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FROM  THE  LIBRARY 
OF 

H.  L.TEVIS 

AT  ALMA 

n 

^ 

J 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


GIFT  OF 

William  E.   Colby 


MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN 
CHINA 


A   CITY  STREET. 
The  three  central  characters  mean  "  No  two  prices. 


MEN  AND  MANNERS 
OF  MODERN  CHINA 


BY 

J.    MACGOWAN 


WITH  38  ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW    YORK 
DODD,   MEAD   AND   COMPANY 
1912 


PREFACE 


The  pictures  of  Chinese  life  that  are  given  in  the 
pages  of  this  work  have  been  drawn  from  my  own 
personal  experience.  I  have  lived  in  China  for  fifty 
years,  and  have  mingled  with  almost  every  class  in 
it.  To  do  this  has  been  a  source  of  great  pleasure 
to  me.  The  more  I  got  into  the  inner  life  of  the 
Chinese  the  more  did  I  feel  my  heart  drawn  to  them. 
They  are  really  a  very  lovable  people,  and  when  seen 
in  their  happiest  moods,  or  when  sorrow  has  been 
clouding  their  lives,  or  when  aroused  by  some  sense 
of  injustice,  they  prove  that  they  really  possess  the 
fibre  of  a  great  people. 

Some  foreign  visitors  to  China  have  complained  that 
the  Chinese  have  no  original  genius  and  that  they  have 
failed  in  the  power  of  development.  The  real  reason 
for  any  halting  in  the  progress  of  thought  is  the  Dead 
Hand  of  the  past  that  has  gripped  the  nation  for  so 
many  long  centuries.  I  have  seen  a  banyan-tree  with 
wide -spreading  boughs  that  on  a  summer's  day  could 
shelter  a  hundred  people  sitting  beneath  them  so  that 
the  sun's  rays  should  not  reach  them.  I  have  also  seen 
another  of  the  same  kind  in  a  small  flower -pot,  with 
branches  so  entwined  and  interwoven  amongst  each 
other  that  all  growth  had  been  effectually  stopped.  This 
is  an  emblem  of  the  Chinese  nation.  But  the  fatal  hand 
is  being  unloosed  and  its  shadowy,  spidery  fingers  are 
slowly  dissolving  into  thin  air.  Ere  long  Nature  will 
avenge  herself  for  the  wrong  that  has  been  done  by  a 
new  creation  of  energy. 

The  Chinese  are  a  strong  race.  Two  great  deeds 
in  their  history  prove  this.  One  was  done  in  the 
iremote  past  ;    the  other,  as  if  to  prove  there  has  been 


8  PREFACE 

no  loss  of  power  in  the  intervening  ages,  is  being  done 
at  the  present  moment. 

Two  centuries  before  Christ,  Shih  Huang-ti,  the 
Napoleon  of  China,  built  the  Great  Wall  to  prevent 
the  wild  and  nomad  tribes  from  harrowing  China.  The 
Chinese  name  for  this  is  a  very  pretty  one.  They 
call  it  ^"The  City  Wall  of  Ten  Thousand  Miles  in 
Length  "  because  it  has  the  exact  semblance  of  the 
walls  that  encircle  every  city  in  the  country,  only  in 
this  case  the  whole  empire  is  the  city. 

The  wall  is  over  twenty  feet  in  height.  At  regular 
intervals  blockhouses  have  been  built  where  the  soldiers 
may  live  when  guarding  the  empire  from  an  invading 
foe.  For  more  than  thirteen  hundred  miles  it  winds  its 
way  over  hills  and  great  plains  and  lofty  mountains. 
It  crosses  ravines  and  mountain  beds  that  in  winter 
are  filled  with  roaring,  raging  torrents.  It  has  stood 
the  wear  and  tear  of  twenty  and  more  centuries.  The 
snows  of  winter  have  fallen  upon  it  and  migiity 
hurricanes  have  tried  to  level  it  to  the  ground,  whilst 
the  blazing  suns  of  countless  ages  have  worked  with 
disintegrating  forces  to  tear  it  in  pieces.  And  yet 
to-day  it  seems  to  stand  with  undiminished  strength, 
as  thoug^h  the  masons  had  only  but  yesterday  cast  their 
trowels  to  the  ground. 

The  second  great  deed  is  now  being  done.  Seventy 
years  ago  a  great  Western  Power  forced  on  China 
an  opium  treaty  at  the  mouth  of  the  cannon.  Since 
then,  not  a  Dead  Hand,  but  a  mailed  fist,  has  been 
held  up  threateningly  to  prevent  its  being  evaded.  Her 
merchants  have  carried  on  the  opium  traffic  and  her 
warships  have  patrolled  the  Eastern  seas  to  see  that 
they  are  not  defrauded  of  their  rights. 

During  the  passing  years  tens  and  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  chests  of  opium  have  been  brought  from 
another  land  to  enrich  these  foreign  merchants  and 
to  add  to  the  revenue  of  the  country  in  which  it  was 
grown.  What  reeked  the  conqueror  of  the  sorrow  and 
vice  and  broken  hearts  and  shattered  lives  1  The 
mailed  fist  was  still  held  defiantly  aloft. 

The  years  dragged  slowly  on  for  China,  and  during 
these  opium  was  slowly  weaving  its  web  over  the  land, 
and  its  black  fingiers  were  fastening  themselves  round 


PREFACE  9 

the  hearts  of  countless  thousands,  and  homes  were  being 
desolated  by  a  curse  that  the  Government  might  never 
try  to  remove,  for  the  iron  fist  was  always  on  guard. 

It  seemed  to  me  many  and  many  a  time  that  the 
nation  was  lost.  The  country  was  covered  at  times 
with  the  bloom  of  the  poppy.  The  evil  had  sunk  so 
deeply  into  the  life  of  the  people  that,  looking  broadly 
at  the  nation,  there  seemed  no  possible  remedy  in  the 
future. 

And  then  the  great  miracle  took  place.  The  passion 
that  had  been  burning  in  the  hearts  of  the  best  men 
in  the  country  blazed  forth  with  a  mighty  fire.  The 
conqueror  was  appealed  to  some  five  years  ago  or  so, 
and  slowly  the  mailed  arm  was  dropped. 

To-day  the  bloom  of  the  poppy  is  vanishing  out  of 
the  land,  and  it  is  hoped  that  in  another  year  or  two 
the  opium  will  have  been  expelled  from  the  whole 
of  the  eighteen  provinces. 

What  other  nation  in  the  world  could  have  accom- 
plished what  the  people  of  China  have  done  in  so 
short  a  period  of  time? 

The  chapters  in  this  volume,  with  the  exception  of 
the  closing  one,  originally  appeared  as  individual 
articles  in  the  North  China  Herald,  Shanghai,  China. 
They  were  subsequently  published  in  book  form  in 
China,  under  the  title  of  *'  Lights  and  Shadows  of 
Chinese  Life."  They  have  since  been  revised  and 
enlarged.  By  the  kind  courtesy  of  the  editor  permis- 
sion has  been  given  me  to  have  them  republished  in 
England  for  the  benefit  of  English  readers. 

J.  MACGOWAN. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I.  THE   LAND   AND   ITS   LAWS 

n.  HOW  THE   EMPIRE   IS  GOVERNED 

III.  THE  CHINESE   MILITARY   SYSTEM 

IV.  LITERARY   DEGREES 
V.  THE   CHINESE   CLASSICS 

VI.  SCHOOLS   AND  SCHOOLMASTERS 

VII.  ANCESTOR  WORSHIP 

VIII.  FENGSHUI 

IX.  THE  SPOKESMAN  OF  THE  GODS 

X.  THE  TEMPLE  OF  THE   EMPEROR  OF   THE   CITY 

XI.  MOUNTAIN   TEMPLES       . 

XII.  PUNISHMENTS    . 

XIII.  LYNCH    LAW 

XIV.  DOCTORS  AND  DOCTORING 

XV.  MONEY   AND   MONEY-LENDING 

XVI.  PLAYS  AND  PLAY  ACTORS 


PAGE 
17 

29 
40 

52 

62 
76 
91 

118 
130 

177 

189 
201 


12 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

XVII.      A   RAMBLE  THROUGH   A  CHINESE  CITY 


XVIII.  RIVER   LIFE   IN  CHINA 

XIX.  HOME  AND   FAMILY   LIFE 

XX.  FARMERS  AND   FARMING 

XXI.  HIGHWAYS   AND  BYWAYS 

XXII.  BEGGARS 

XXIII.  "face" 

XXIV.  PEEPS  INTO  CHINESE   LIFE 
XXV.  THE   NEW   EMPIRE   OF  CHINA 

INDEX 


PAGE 

2l6 

235 
248 
263 
278 

290 

301 

313 

327 

347 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


A  CITY  STREET 


GRINDING  RICE 


MANDARIN  AND  STAFF 


AT  DINNER 


MANDARIN  AND   HIS  SON 

SCHOOL  CHILDREN  AT  DINNER 

A   CHINESE  GRAVEYARD  ON  THE   HILLSIDE 

FOUR  FAMOUS  IDOLS    . 

A  CHINESE   IDOL  .... 

AN   IMAGE  OF  BUDDHA  ... 

EVENSONG  IN  A  BUpDHIST  TEMPLE   . 

A    PRIEST    IN     THE    COURTYARD    OF    THE    "  WHITE 
TEMPLE     ..... 

LAM-PAW-TO  TEMPLES  WITH  SOLDIERS^  GRAVES 
CRIMINALS  WEARING  THE  CANQUE      . 


Frontisfiece 

PACING  PAGE 

21 

38 
47 

S3 
76 

143 


DEER 


14 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


RIDE   ON   A   WHEELBARROW      . 

A   MORNING  SHAVE 

A  THEATRE   ON  THE   ROADSIDE 

PLAYACTORS  ACTING    . 

AN  ITINERANT  COOK    . 

A  LETTER  WRITER 

SANPANS  AND  JUNKS     , 

A  gentleman's  country   HOUSE 

A   BRIDE   ON   HER   WAY  TO   BE   MARRIED 

WOMEN  WITH    "golden   LILIES " 

BRIDAL  PROCESSION     .  .  . 

CHILDREN  AT  PLAY      . 

GIRLS  WASHING  CLOTHES 

A   COUNTRY   RIDE   ON  A   WHEELBARROW 

AMAH   AND   CHILD 

CANTON  JOSS  HOUSE    . 

FRUIT-SELLERS  .  .  . 

TEMPLE  WITH  THREE  CHIEF  GODS^  ETC.,  ETC. 


FACING  PAGE 

.  183 

.  208 

.  208 

.  214 

.  227 

.  227 

.  241 

.  249 

.  249 

.  253 

.  261 

.  261 

•  279 

•  295 
.  297 

•  307 
.  315 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


15 


A   STREET  SHAVE 


A  FRUIT-SELLER 


A  WOMAN  WEAVING 


A  TEMPLE   IN  CANTON 


A  JINRICKSHAW 


FACING  PAGE 
322 

329 

333 


Men  and  Manners  of  Modern  China 


CHAPTER    I 

THE    LAND   AND    ITS    LAWS 

From  the  very  earliest  days  of  Chinese  history,  it  has 
always  been  held  by  the  nation  that  the  whole  of  the 
land  in  the  empire  belongs  to  the  Emperor.  All  the 
mountains  that  raise  their  blue  summits  to  the  sky  ; 
the  fruitful  valleys,  the  wild  uncultivated  wastes  and 
the  rich  plains,  are  all  his.  Whenever  the  State  requires 
any  property  for  public  use,  it  simply,  therefore, 
demands  it  from  its  present  occupant,  paying  about 
half  its  actual  value,  merely  as  a  solatium  to  his  feelings, 
and  not  as  an  acknowledgment  of  his  real  ownership 
in  the  property.  King  Ahab,  if  he  had  been  a  Chinese 
Emperor,  would  have  gained  possession  of  the  coveted 
vineyard  of  Naboth  without  having  to  resort  jto  the 
painful  experience  that  ultimately  secured  it  to  him. 
He  would  simply  have  sent  his  officers  to  confiscate  it, 
and  Naboth  would  have  at  once  yielded  to  the  demand 
and  retired  as  gracefully  as  his  feelings  would  have 
allowed  him,  leaving  his  inheritance  in  the  possession  of 
the  king. 

When  it  was  decided  some  years  ago  to  erect  tele- 
graphs throughout  the  empire,  the  question  as  to  how 
much  would  be  required  to  meet  the  expenses  of  tres- 
passing on  people's  property  never  entered  into  the 
calculations  of  the  Government.  The  lines  would  pass 
over  thousands  of  miles  of  country,  through  densely 
populated  regions,  amongst  peoples  fierce  and  indepen- 
dent in  their  manners,  and  through  tracts  of  country 
where  the  authority  of  the  mandarins  was  of  the  loosest 
possible  description,  and  yet  the  question  of  the  right  to 

2  17 


18  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

plant  poles   in  fields  or  gardens,  or  in  a  man's   front 
yard,  was  never  once  seriously  raised. 

Many  thought  that  such  a  striking  innovation  v^ould 
result  in  disturbances,  especially  as  it  came  into  collision 
w^ith  fengshui,  that  ghostly  antiquated  bogy  that  sends 
the  Chinese  into  fits  whenever  he  thinks  he  has 
violated  any  of  its  laws.  Nothing  of  the  kind,  how- 
ever, happened.  No  sooner  had  the  Government  taken 
up  the  matter,  than  every  voice  was  stilled,  and  the  poles 
were  put  in  position  as  quietly  as  though  the  tele- 
graph system  was  an  ancient  institution  of  China,  and 
had  been  invented  in  the  dark  and  misty  ages  of  Chinese 
history,  when  Fuh  Hi  or  Shin  Nung  performed  the 
marvellous  wonders  that  tradition  declares  they  did. 

On  one  occasion,  indeed,  there  was  a  slight  opposi- 
tion. The  workmen  had  dug  a  hole  for  a  pole  close  to 
a  grave  where  a  man  who  had  been  a  distinguished 
scholar  lay  buried.  The  land  had  been  the  gift  of  an 
JEmperor,  who  had  held  him  in  high  honour.  The 
son,  who  also  was  a  man  of  distinction,  felt  terrified 
when  he  saw  the  man  ruthlessly  digging  close  to  where 
his  father  lay.  He  had  a  vision  of  unseen  spirits, 
angered  and  inflamed,  ready  to  hurl  destruction  upon 
his  family,  and  to  wrest  from  them  all  the  honours  and 
wealth  they  had  bestowed  upon  it.  He  accordingly 
stepped  into  the  hole  that  had  been  dug,  and  declared 
that  he  would  rather  perish  than  allow  the  pole  to  be 
placed  in  it.  He  was  careful  to  explain  that  he  was 
not  resisting  the  Emperor's  right  to  the  land,  but  the 
place  where  his  father  lay  buried,  having  been  a  royal 
gift,  he  considered  that  he  had  a  special  right  to  it. 
It  seemed  for  a  moment  as  though  a  complete  stoppage 
would  have  been  put  to  the  work,  when  the  Chinese 
official,  who  accompanied  the  foreign  constructors  of 
the  line  to  assist  them  in  such  complications  as  the 
present,  stepped  up  to  the  man,  who  was  sitting  with 
his  legs  in  the  hole,  and  said  to  him:  *'  I  am  astonished 
at  a  man  of  your  scholarship  and  ability  acting  in 
this  childish  manner.  You  ought  to  be  perfectly  aware 
that  every  foot  of  land  in  the  empire  belongs  to  the 
Emperor  ;  all  the  honours  you  possess  are  his  gift. 
This  line,'*  he  continued,  pointing  with  a  wave  of  his 
hand  to  the  long  procession  of  poles  that  spectre-like 


THE  LAND  AND  ITS  LAWS  19 

dotted  the  plain  till  they  vanished  in  the  horizon,  **  is 
being  made  by  his  special  command.  Would  you  resist 
that?  You  know  that  he  has  the  power  to  order  you  and 
your  wife  and  your  children  to  be  seized  and  to  be  cut 
into  a  thousand  pieces,  and  none  would  question  his 
right  to  do  so."  The  scholar  was  so  impressed  with  this 
brief  but  eloquent  speech  that  he  at  once  rose  and, 
bowing  gracefully  before  the  official  in  acknowledgment 
of  the  courtesy  he  had  shown  him,  he  retired  without 
a  word,  and  left  the  workmen  to  continue  their  labours. 

With  the  exception  of  the  dues  collected  at  the  various 
custom  houses  throughout  the  country,  the  only  direct 
tax  imposed  by  the  Imperial  Government  has  been  the 
land  tax.  Taxes  for  education,  for  the  army  and  navy, 
for  the  defence  of  the  Empire,  as  well  as  rates  for 
the  police,  the  poor,  &c.,  are  absolutely  unknown.  The 
civil  list  in  China  is  a  very  model  of  simplicity,  and  gives 
the  executive  very  little  anxiety,  for  there  are  automatic 
systems  that  have  been  in  existence  from  the  earliest 
times  that  provide  for  the  salaries  and  expenses  of 
public  servants  in  a  manner  highly  satisfactory  to 
every  one,  excepting  to  the  long-suffering  masses  from 
whom  the  money  has  been  extracted. 

The  method  by  which  the  land  tax  has  been  collected 
will  illustrate  those  beautiful  economic  systems  by  which 
the  Government  can  carry  on  the  business  of  the  country 
without  any  outlay  for  salaries  and  incidental  expenses 
whatever.  It  may  be  well  to  explain  here  that  when- 
ever a  new  dynasty  has  taken  over  the  government  of 
the  Empire,  it  has  always  been  accustomed  to  promul- 
gate a  Constitution  drawn  up  by  itself,  which  was  to 
be  the  basis  of  all  legislation  in  the  future.  When  the 
Manchus  stepped  into  power  in  A.D.  1644,  acting  on 
the  precedents  of  the  past,  they  issued  what  they  called 
*'  The  Laws  and  Regulations  of  the  Great  Ching 
Dynasty."  In  that  document  the  land  registers  were 
revised,  and  the  amount  that  every  man's  farm  or 
holding  had  to  pay  was  definitely  fixed.  This  seems 
to  have  been  done  in  a  very  fair  and  generous  spirit. 
The  Government  which  affects  to  be  a  paternal  one 
showed  in  this  case,  at  least,  great  anxiety  that  this 
tax  .should  not  be  an  oppressive  one.  It  was  decided 
that  in  what  are  called  "  wet  lands,"  the  standard  of 


20  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

taxation  should  be  rice  seed,  and  that  a  field  on  which 
could  be  sown  a  Chinese  measure  that  approximates  to 
our  peck  should  be  taxed  a  certain  sum,  whilst  in  '*  dry 
lands  "  peas  should  be  the  standard. 

As  lands  vary  greatly  in  fertility,  there  was  no 
uniformity  in  the  levying  of  these  taxes.  In  rich  and 
productive  districts  the  *'  wet  lands  "  that  are  capable 
of  being  sown  with  a  peck  of  seed  will  pay  as  much  as 
eightpence  or  ninepence,  whilst  the  **  dry  lands  "  will 
pay  a  little  more  than  half  of  those  amounts.  Other 
districts  again  that  are  less  fruitful,  or  are  far  removed 
from  water,  are  taxed  at  a;  proportionately  less  sum, 
but  in  all  cases  due  care  has  been  taken  that  the 
farmers  shall  not  be  unduly  distressed. 

This  land  tax  is  a  very  moderate  one  and  has  existed 
unchanged  since  the  usurpation  of  the  Manchus,  and 
even  to-day  it  remains  precisely  the  same,  and  is  still 
being  collected  as  though  no  revolution  had  taken  place. 
The  republic  has  not  yet  been  legally  instituted,  and  yet 
the  Chinese  with  an  instinct  of  order  and  obedience  to 
law  are  carrying  on  the  old  order  of  things  even  though 
the  Emperor  has  vanished  and  the  States*  parliaments 
have  not  yet  been  summoned. 

Whilst  the  tax  is  far  from  being  oppressive,  the 
mode  of  its  collection  often  brings  great  sorrow  and 
injustice  to  those  who  may  be  quite  willing  to  pay  it. 
The  tax-gatherers  have  always  been  men  of  notoriously 
evil  reputation,  and  who  from  the  very  nature  of  the 
case  must  be  dishonest.  Not  only  have  they  no  salaries, 
but  they  have  actually  to  purchase  their  positions.  The 
only  privilege  they  demand  in  return  for  this  outlay 
of  their  money  is  a  free  hand  to  get  as  much  out  of 
the  people,  by  guile,  by  ruse,  or  by  cunning,  as  they 
can  ;  only  they  must  be  careful  that  everything  they 
do  must  have  an  appearance  of  legality.  Law,  and 
ancient  custom,  and  hoary  traditions  are  sacred  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Chinese,  but  there  are  a  thousand-and-one 
ways  by  which  these  may  be  evaded,  while  the  semblance 
of  respect  for  them  is  still  maintained. 

A  free-handed  system  like  this  exactly  suits  the 
genius  of  the  Chinese,  who  prefer  oblique  methods  to 
direct  ones.  It  opens  out  a  boundless  field,  where 
money    can    be    gained    more    easily    than    by    settled 


THE   LAND  AND   ITS   LAWS  21 

salaries.  It  is  known  to  be  thoroughly  iniquitous,  and 
yet  no  one  ever  dreams  of  suggesting  that  it  should 
be  abolished.  The  founders  of  the  empire  practised 
it.  The  sages,  if  we  could  only  have  access  to  their 
private  banking  accounts,  no  doubt  encouraged  it. 
Great  statesmen  and  rulers  and  prime  ministers  during 
successive  ages  have  been  implicated  in  it.  Great  revo- 
lutions have  rent  the  empire  into  a  thousand  pieces 
because  of  this  and  kindred  abuses  that  had  driven 
the  people  mad,  and  yet  when  the  storm  has  passed, 
and  the  nation  has  settled  down  to  a  new  life,  the 
old  intolerable  systems  have  been  resumed,  just  as 
though  they  contained  within  them  the  germs  of  a 
new  force  that  was  going  to  renovate  the  empire. 

The  system  by  which  the  tax-gatherer  has  lived  has 
a  deteriorating  effect  upon  himself.  He  is  hated  and 
despised  by  every  one,  and  rightly  so.  His  mind  is 
always  absorbed  with  money.  That  floats  before  him 
as  he  walks  the  road.  In  company,  its  gleams  catch 
his  eye.  In  conversation,  when  he  seems  absorbed 
in  some  discussion,  his  mind  is  still  under  its  unseen 
influence.  His  district  is  a  golden  mine  that  is  to 
give  him  his  daily  bread.  It  is  to  fill  his  home  with 
plenty,  to  enable  him  to  purchase  fields,  and  lay  by 
money  that  shall  buy  his  sons  their  wives.  It  is  a  mine 
that  has  to  be  worked,  however.  Just  as  the  real 
gold  is  hidden  away  in  the  earth,  and  skill  and  labour 
and  self-denial  are  required  to  extract  it,  so  in  this, 
the  keenest  and  subtlest,  as  well  as  the  basest  qualities 
of  the  mind  have  to  be  exercised  to  draw  forth  the 
precious  metal. 

It  is  through  chicanery  and  deception,  through  lies 
unspeakable,  by  false  accusations  that  bring  men  within 
the  covetous  grasp  of  the  mandarins,  and  through  extor- 
tions that  will  fling  misery  and  wretchedness  upon  many 
a  home,  that  the  work  of  the  tax-gatherer  has  to  be 
accomplished. 

He  comes  round  twice  a  year  to  receive  his  dues, 
and  from  the  moment  he  starts,  till  he  has  finished 
his  round,  he  is  planning  and  manoeuvring  how  he 
shall  cheat  and  defraud  the  unfortunate  country  people 
who  are  unlucky  enough  to  come  within  his  clutches. 

The  Chinese  being  miserably  poor,  the  majority  of 


22  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

them  have  no  money  ready  to  pay  their  taxes,  and  so 
they  are  put  to  the  greatest  straits  to  get  together 
the  sums  they  owe.  The  women  take  their  gold  ear- 
rings or  silver  hairpins  with  which  they  ornament  their 
long,  black  hair,  or  perhaps  the  men  take  their  agricul- 
tural implements  and  hurry  with  them  to  the  nearest 
pawnshop.  Some  who  have  no  property  sufficient  to 
meet  the  demands  that  are  made  upon  them  are  treated 
in  a  very  rough  and  cruel  manner.  The  very  clothes 
upon  their  backs,  and  even  the  solitary  rice-pan  in 
which  the  food  of  the  family  is  cooked,  are  taken 
from  them  without  remorse. 

A  favourite  plan  with  these  harpies  is  to  allow  a 
man  who  is  pretty  well  off  to  pass  the  proper  time  in 
which  payment  ought  to  have  been  made.  This  is 
a  simple  matter  with  the  Chinese,  who  rarely  in  any 
matter  are  up  to  time.  There  is  a  subtle  influence 
in  the  air  of  the  East  that  puts  a  drag  upon  a  man, 
and  even  the  vigorous  Westerner  by  and  by  feels  his 
footstep  becoming  slower  and  a  tendency  to  put  things 
off  creeping  over  him. 

When  a  few  weeks  later  he  presents  himself  with 
his  money  for  payment,  the  tax-gatherer,  with  an 
assumed  look  of  indignation,  demands  from  him  his 
reason  for  refusing  to  pay  his  tax.  The  unfortunate 
man,  who  sees  that  he  is  going  to  be  fleeced,  makes 
the  most  humble  apologies,  and  says  that  he  thought 
that  the  delay  of  a  week  or  two  was  of  no  importance. 
**  No  importance,"  the  official  cries  in  a  loud  voice, 
**  that  you  should  refuse  to  pay  the  Emperor  his  tax? 
You  will  find  it  to  be  a  very  important  and  at  the  same 
time  a  very  expensive  thing,  for  I  shall  not  sign 
your  receipt  until  you  pay  me  double  the  amount  you 
owe." 

The  poor  victim  is  compelled  to  submit,  for  to  appeal 
for  justice  to  the  mandarin  would  be  useless.  He  would 
stand  by  the  tax-gatherer,  and  every  official  in  his 
court  would  do  the  same,  for  every  man  would  be 
prepared  to  swear  till  his  face  was  black  that  the 
debtor  not  only  refused  to  pay  his  tax,  but  that  when 
it  was  politely  demanded  from  him  he  violently  assaulted 
and  half  murdered  the  man  that  demanded  it. 

The  inventive  faculty  of  the  tax-gatherer  is  a  highly 


THE  LAND  AND  ITS  LAWS  23 

trained  one,  and  ages  of  experience  have  taught  his 
tribe  the  most  ingenious  ways  of  practising  upon  the 
wretched  farmers.  On  one  occasion,  a  man  who  owned 
a  few  small  plots  of  land  died,  and  as  he  had  no  relatives 
the  family  became  extinct.  The  tax  for  the  plots  he 
owned  must  still,  however,  continue  to  be  paid,  for  the 
Government  allows  of  no  default,  as  it  is  held  that  men 
may  die  but  the  land  is  imperishable.  That  is  registered 
in  the  Doomsday  Books,  and  the  officials  will  be  held 
responsible  for  the  payment. 

The  collector  was  determined  that  it  should  not  come 
out  of  his  own  pocket,  so  he  set  his  wits  to  work  to  see 
how  he  could  manoeuvre  to  compel  some  one  else  to 
pay  it.  Marching  up  to  the  house  of  a  well-to-do 
farmer  he  presented  his  bill  for  the  taxes  of  the  land 
which  had  no  owner.  He  was  met  with  indignant 
protests  by  the  farmer,  who  said  that  he  had  no  interest 
in  the  land  in  question.  The  collector,  with  a  calm 
and  placid  smile  that  lit  up  his  opium-dyed  face,  said, 
*'  I  know  better  than  that,  for  I  have  been  credibly 
informed  that  you  have  actually  taken  possession  of 
it  and  are  now  cultivating  it  on  the  sly." 

This  was  a  falsehood,  pure  and  simple,  but  it  served 
his  purpose  better  than  the  truth  would  have  done,  for 
it  irritated  the  farmer  and  made  him  lose  his  temper, 
the  very  thing  that  the  tax-gatherer  desired.  Seizing 
him  by  the  collar  the  collector  began  to  drag  him  to 
the  door  with  the  pui^pose,  he  said,  of  taking  him  before 
the  mandarin  and  having  him  thoroughly  punished. 
The  farmer,  excited  by  a  sense  of  injustice,  lost  all 
his  prudence,  and  forgot  the  character  of  the  man  he 
was  dealing  with.  He  struck  out  in  self-defence,  and 
his  two  sturdy  sons  joining  with  him  the  foe  was  soon 
sprawling  on  his  back  on  the  ground. 

A  sense  of  victory  consoled  the  tax-gatherer  for  his 
temporary  humiliation.  The  thing  had  turned  out  just 
as  he  had  planned  it.  He  pretended  to  be  seriously 
injured,  and  he  lay  groaning  as  though  he  were  in 
mortal  agony.  One  of  his  attendants  fled  in  all  haste  to 
the  neighbouring  city,  and  ere  long  he  returned  with 
five  policemen  and  also  with  the  wife  of  the  injured 
man,  who  made  the  place  resouind  with  her  cries  and 
with  her  threats  of  vengeance  against  those  who  had 


24  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

dared  to  lift  their  hands  against  her  husband  in  the 
discharge  of  his  pubHc  duties. 

A  prettier  bit  of  comedy  it  would  have  been  im- 
possible to  arrange.  It  had  all  the  appearance  of  a 
tragedy,  whilst  in  reality  it  was  a  screaming  farce  to 
every  one  but  the  farmer  and  his  sons.  Scenic  effect 
has  a  wonderful  charm  for  the  Chinese.  China  is  a 
land  full  of  play  actors,  that  seem  to  be  continually 
arranging  their  stage  and  acting  their  parts  before  each 
other.  Here  was  as  nice  a  little  plot  with  all  the 
dramatis  personce  as  any  one  could  desire.  The  villain 
of  the  piece  was  rolling  in  agonies  on  the  ground. 

The  farmer,  horror-struck  because  of  the  fatal  blow 
that  had  stretched  his  foe  on  the  ground,  looked  with 
blanched  cheek  and  throbbing  pulse  on  the  man 
writhing  before  him.  The  wife  rending  the  air  with 
her  screams,  her  hands  turned  wildly  up  to  heaven 
and  her  hair  falling  in  disorder  down  her  back,  the 
policemen,  fierce  and  truculent -looking,  and  the  crowd 
that  stood  gazing  with  fear  and  consternation  in  their 
looks  all  constitute  a  scene  that,  for  dramatic  effect, 
could  not  be  surpassed  had  the  whole  been  planined 
and  carried  out  after  many  a  rehearsal  in  the  green- 
room. '     ;  I 

As  soon  as  the  villain  of  the  play  saw  that  the 
acting  had  produced  the  desired  effect  a  hint  was  let 
drop  that  negotiations  for  a  settlement  of  the  difficulty 
might  now  be  entered  upon.  The  farmer  was  only 
too  willing  for  a  compromise,  for  to  come  within  the 
clutches  of  the  mandarin  meant  that  he  would  be 
squeezed  of  every  cash  that  he  possessed,  and  after- 
wards be  cast  penniless  on  the  world.  After  a  noisy 
discussion  with  these  thieves,  dressed  in  official  robes 
and  with  the  power  of  the  State  behind  them,  he  got 
them  to  accept  ten  pounds  to  let  the  matter  drop. 
With  this  sum  the  tax-collector,  with  his  disreputable 
associates,  left  the  village,  quietly  winking  at  each  other 
as  they  got  beyond  its  limits  and  chuckling  over  the 
successful  haul  they  had  made  that  day. 

One  of  the  most  fruitful  causes  of  dispute  in  China 
is  the  land.  Poverty  is  widespread,  and  men  are 
frequently  compelled  to  borrow  money  on  their  holdings 
in   order   to   pay   off    debts    that   must    be   met.     Con- 


THE  LAND  AND  ITS  LAWS  25 

sidering  that  more  than  half  the  population  of  China 
is  in  hopeless  debt,  it  can  easily  be  imagined  how 
the  one  thing  that  is  permanent  in  its  nature  should 
be  held  as  the  safest  security  for  the  repayment  of 
money  lent.  The  imperishable  character  of  the  land, 
however,  does  not  prevent  constant  disputes  and 
attempts  to  defraud,  when  from  the  very  nature  of 
Chinese  justice  grievous  wrongs  are  endured  by  those 
who  had  ^neither  power  nor  money  enough  to  protect 
their  rights. 

A  man,  for  example,  mortgages  his  fields  to  some 
well-to-do  neighbour,  which  by  the  deed  he  can  reclaim 
after  a  certain  number  of  years.  At  the  end  of  the 
stipulated  time  he  is  as  poor  as  when  he  borrowed, 
and  he  might  as  well  dream  of  redeeming  the  moon 
as  the  ancestral  lands  that  are  now  in  the  possession 
of  another.  Years  pass  by  and  still  the  blight  of  poverty 
rests  upon  the  home,  and  perhaps  fifty  or  sixty  years 
elapse,  when  the  son  or  grandson  presents  himself  with 
the  amount  that  had  been  borrowed  and  demands  the 
restoration  of  the  fields.  In  the  meanwhile  the  new 
owners  have  become  accustomed  to  the  possession  of 
the  lands  and  they  have  determined  that  they  shall 
never  be  given  up. 

A  very  common  plan  with  unprincipled  men  of  this 
class  is  to  put  such  difficulties  in  the  way  that  an 
appeal  would  have  to  be  made  to  the  mandarin,  with 
the  inevitable  delays  and  bribings  and  legal  expenses 
that  would  exhaust  the  purse  of  the  poorer  man  and 
leave  the  property  in  the  hands  of  the  wrong'-doer. 
Another  not  uncommon  method  is  to  manufacture  deeds 
that  would  go  to  prove  that  the  lands  in  dispute  had 
always  been  the  property  of  the  family  that  now  holds 
them.  The  way  this  is  done  is  very  ingenious.  A 
deed  is  drawn  up  in  the  usual  legal  phraseology  and 
buried  in  the  earth  for  a  certain  time,  until  it  becomes 
tinged  with  a  colour  that  gives  it  an  ancient  look. 
It  is  then  put  into  an  iron  pan  and  gradually  heated 
over  a  slow  fire  till  it  is  browned  with  the  exact  hue 
that  the  centuries  are  accustomed  to  put  into  these 
documents.  The  change  is  so  true  to  nature  that  even 
the  eye  of  an  expert  is  very  often  deceiveid. 

Some   years   ago   a   case   occurred   which   illustrates 


26  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

what  I  mean.  A  grandson  came  to  redeem  some  fields 
that  had  been  mortgaged  by  his  grandfather.  A  gleam 
of  prosperity  had  come  into  his  home,  and,  with  the 
loyalty  of  the  Chinese  to  the  memory  of  his  ancestors, 
he  wished  to  get  back  the  property  that  had  been 
bequeathed  by  them  to  their  children.  The  holders 
of  the  land  denied  that  they  had  ever  mortgaged  it. 
It  had  been  theirs  for  ages,  they  said,  and  they  pro- 
duced time-worn  and  age -stained  documents  in  defence 
of  their  claim.  An  appeal  was  made  to  the  County 
Magistrate  to  decide  the  question.  This  man  happened 
to  be  one  of  the  just  kind.  He  was  a  scholar  as 
well  who  had  deeply  studied  the  history  of  his  country. 
Wishing  to  be  fair  to  both  parties  he  keenly  examined 
the  manufactured  deeds,  which  had  every  sign  of  age 
imprinted  upon  their  face.  With  eyebrows  knit  and 
gaze  fixed  upon  the  brown  discoloured  pages,  as  though 
he  would  pierce  the  secret  that  lay  behind  those  weird 
old-world  characters,  he  pondered  the  mystery  he  was 
called  upon  to  solve. 

The  claimant  possessed  deeds  that  had  the  look  of 
genuineness  about  them,  but  the  defendant  had  others, 
upon  which  the  air  of  antiquity  undoubtedly  rested. 
Which  of  them  were  the  true  ones  was  the  supreme 
question  he  had  to  decide.  All  at  once  a  smile  flashed 
over  his  face,  and,  turning  to  the  defendant,  he  said  : 
**  Your  deeds  have  been  most  ingeniously  made  up  and 
they  would  certainly  deceive  any  ordinary  reader,  and 
yet,  as  you  know,  they  are  forgeries.  There  is  one 
thing  in  them  that  proves  this  decisively.  You  are 
evidently  not  acquainted  with  early  history,  and  so  you 
have  introduced  into  your  deeds  the  name  of  an 
Emperor  that  did  not  exist  at  the  time  they  profess 
to  have  been  written.  You  must,  therefore,  at  once 
hand  back  the  fields  to  the  rightful  owner."  In  this 
case  justice  was  done,  but  it  may  be  easily  imagined 
what  wrongs  have  been  perpetrated  in  the  numberless 
cases  where  the  judges  were  neither  just  nor  learned. 

With  regard  to  the  division  of  landed  property, 
custom  is  very  precise  and  definite.  There  is  no  law 
of  primogeniture  that  secures  it  to  the  eldest  son. 
After  the  death  of  the  father  the  land  is  equally  divided 
amongst   the    sons,    with   the    exception   that   the   first- 


THE  LAND  AND  ITS  LAWS  27 

bom  has  a  slightly  larger  share  to  compensate  him 
for  the  responsibilities  that  devolve  upon  him  as  the 
head  of  the  family,  now  that  his  father  has  gone. 

The  daughters  have  no  share  in  the  division,  for 
marriages  having  been  arranged  for  them,  they  are 
considered  as  practically  belonging  to  the  clan  into 
which  they  are  married,  since  no  woman  may  become 
the  wife  of  any  member  of  her  own  clan. 

With  regard  to  the  ancestral  home,  this  becomes  the 
common  property  of  the  sons,  where  they  reside  with 
their  families.  Such  a  state  of  things  is  utterly 
abhorrent  to  an  Englishman,  but  not  to  the  Chinese, 
who  have  no  sympathy  with  our  ideas  that  each  family 
ought  to  have  a  separate  home  for  itself.  The  division 
of  the  ancestral  home  amongst  the  sons,  where  each 
lives  in  different  apartments  of  the  same  building,  seems 
to  them  an  ideal  settlement  of  the  case.  With  us  this 
arrangement  would  be  liable  to  result  in  quarrels  and 
estrangements  that  would  make  the  common  life  abso- 
lutely intolerable.  This  has  not  been  the  experience 
of  the  Chinese.  The  Chinese  has  a  mad  craving  for 
the  society  of  his  fellow-men  that  makes  crowding  an 
absolute  luxury  to  him.  When  he  builds  a  street  he 
puts  the  houses  as  near  to  each  other  as  it  is  possible 
for  him  to  get  them,  leaving  the  minimum  of  space  to 
allow  of  the  passage  of  the  public.  This  is  not  because 
there  is  a  dearth  of  land.  It  is  as  much  an  obedience 
to  instinct  as  it  is  for  the  beaver  to  build  galleries 
in  a  confined  space  by  the  river's  side. 

For  years  and  generations  the  Chinese  have  been 
confined  to  their  own  country.  They  have  been  rooted 
to  the  soil.  They  have  been  bom  and  have  died  almost 
upon  the  very  spot  where  they  have  passed  their  lives. 
The  names  of  foreign  countries  have  a  strange  and 
barbarous  sound  to  them,  whilst  their  peoples  are 
despised  and  savagely  hated  by  them.  Their  instincts 
have  all  been  narrowed  down  to  the  people  about  them, 
so  much  so  that  love  for  the  larger  world  beyond  has 
been  lost,  and  patriotism  has  been  so  utterly  unknown 
to  them  that  even  at  the  present  day,  when  that  virtue 
is  growing  within  their  hearts,  they  have  not  yet  devised 
any  one  word  that  will  adequately  express   it. 

China    is    a    huge   conglomerate    of    rabbit    warrens, 


28  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

where  the  people  grow  and  multiply  and  develop  affini- 
ties that  bind  them  more  and  more  to  the  same  spot. 
A  man  wants  to  open  a  shoe -shop,  and  the  instinct  of 
his  class  draws  him  to  the  streets  where  every  shop  is 
occupied  by  shoemakers.  The  drapers  are  not  spread 
over  a  city,  but  are  concentrated  in  one  or  two  quarters, 
and  so  one  would  find  it  difficult  to  buy  a  yard  of  cloth 
or  a  skein  of  silk  outside  of  these  certain  limits. 

It  is  this  same  instinct  that  leads  Chinese  families  to 
live  rabbit -like  in  close  proximity  to  each  other,  in 
the  midst  of  din  and  loud  noises  and  with  the  sounds 
of  the  human  voice  incessantly  breaking  on  the  ear. 
The  Chinese  does  not  want  quiet.  He  wants  company. 
A  babel  of  voices  is  the  sweetest  music  he  can  hear. 
His  most  luxuriant  enjoyraent  is  to  sit  in  a  densely- 
packed  crowd  that  is  gazing  with  rapt  admiration  at  a 
street  play,  where  the  shouting  of  the  actors  and  the 
deafening  noise  of  cymbals  and  drums  would  be 
sufficient  to  drive  an  Occidental  out  of  his  senses. 

The  effect  of  the  perpetually  recurring  subdivision 
of  the  ancestral  acres  is  that  the  farms  throughout  the 
country  are  usually  small.  There  is  no  question  in 
my  mind,  however,  but  that  the  absence  of  the  law  of 
primogeniture  has  saved  the  Chinese  nation  from  great 
misery  and  has  enabled  it  somewhat  successfully  to  meet 
the  problems  that  its  vast  population  has  brought  upon 
it.  With  their  intense  conservatism,  and  with  the  super- 
stition that  prevented  the  mineral  riches  of  the  country 
from  being  developed,  the  younger  sons  would  have 
starved  had  the  eldest  been  given  the  whole  of  the 
land  at  their  father's  death.  As  it  is,  the  industry  of 
the  Chinese,  which  amounts  to  a  kind  of  mania,  and 
their  power  of  living  upon  very  little,  have  given  a 
lease  of  life  to  this  long-lived  empire  that  has  enabled 
it  to  survive  whilst  the  ancient  monarchies  of  the  past 
have  drifted  into  oblivion. 


CHAPTER  II 

HOW   THE   EMPIRE   IS    GOVERNED 

The  model  of  the  Chinese  Government  is  the  family. 
This  is  not  a  modern  idea,  but  is  as  old  as  Confucius, 
who  gave  the  sanction  of  his  name  and  his  genius  to  it, 
and  who  declared  that  a  well-regulated  family  was  a 
perfect  conception  of  how  an  empire  should  be  ruled. 

To  understand  this,  it  must  be  explained  that  the 
relation  of  its  members  to  each  other  is  much  more 
stringent  than  in  an  English  home.  In  the  latter  the 
children  are  under  the  control  of  their  parents  till  they 
are  of  age,  and  then  they  hive  off,  marry,  and  form 
establishments  of  their  own.  In  China  only  the 
daughters  leave  the  home  for  good,  when  they  are 
married,  and  they  then  cease  to  be  ruled  by  their 
parents.  The  sons  never  leave  the  old  roof -tree,  and 
never  get  free  from  parental  restraint.  No  matter 
how  old  they  may  be  or  how  the  years  may  have  covered 
their  heads  with  white  locks,  their  father  and  mother 
have  precisely  the  same  power  over  them  that  they 
had  when  they  were  children.  They  marry  and  have 
families  of  their  own,  but  they  all  live  in  the  same 
homestead  and  they  never  dream'  that  because  the  years 
have  been  creeping  on  and  furrows  have  found  their 
way  into  their  faces,  that  the  authority  of  the  old  folk 
is  to  be  in  the  least  relaxed. 

Beside  the  common  tie  of  affection  that  binds  the 
members  of  the  home  to  each  other,  there  is  another 
that  welds  it  together  with  a  bond  that  the  years  may 
never  sever,  and  that  is  that  invisible,  mysterious,  but 
most  potent  force  called  Responsibility.  This  is  a  word 
that  cannot  be  understood  by  an  Englishman  in  the 
sense  that  a  Chinese  thinks  of  it.  It  permeates  the 
family  ;    it    winds    its    invisible    way    into   every   phase 


30  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

of  society  ;  it  touches  with  its  magic  wand  the  official 
acts  of  every  mandarin  in  the  empire,  and  it  is  the  one 
controlling  influence  that  is  felt  around  the  Dragon 
Throne,  and  that  often  stays  the  hand  of  unrighteous- 
ness, when  nothing  else  could  curb  either  his  hand  or 
his  will. 

Taking  the  family  as  the  starting-point,  it  is  here 
where  this  thoroughly  Oriental  conception,  that  the 
individual  must  be  content  to  merge  his  personality 
and  his  freedom  in  his  family  or  his  clan,  is  carried  out 
as  an  object  lesson  for  the  rest  of  society.  Every  mem- 
ber of  the  household  is  responsible  for  all  the  rest. 
The  father  as  head  of  the  family  is  held  liable  for  the 
misdeeds  of  the  various  members  of  it,  whilst  the  sons 
on  the  other  hand  are  treated  as  criminals  for  the 
wrong -doing  of  their  parents.  It  is  because  of  this  that' 
some  of  the  most  awful  tragedies  that  have  blackened 
the  pages  of  Chinese  history  have  been  enacted.  Some 
high  official  has  been  caught  in  some  treasonable  act. 
Not  only  has  he  been  put  to  death  with  most  barbarous 
cruelty,  but  all  his  relatives,  both  on  the  father's  and 
mother's  side,  have  been  exterminated.  Men  and  women 
and  little  children  have  all  been  ruthlessly  butchered 
and  the  executions  have  ceased  only  when  no  more 
victims  remained  to  be  slaughtered. 

But  this  system  of  mutual  responsibility  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  family.  It  runs  throughout  the  whole  of 
society.  It  may  be  truly  said  that  there  is  not  an 
individual  in  the  whole  of  the  empire  that  is  not  in 
some  way  or  another  responsible  to  some  one  else. 
The  nation  may  be  compared  to  a  highly  complicated 
machine,  made  up  of  endless  wheels  that  wliirl  and 
revolve  apparently  in  the  utmost  confusion.  There  are 
cogs,  too,  innumerable,  that  fit  into  each  other  with 
the  most  beautiful  precision,  and  without  which  the 
machinery  would  stumble  and  fall  into  disorder. 

From  the  eternal  past  the  social  system  of  the  Chinese 
has  been  built  up  on  this  conception.  All  the  men  in 
the  country,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  are  but  cogs 
in  the  great  machine  that  is  carrying  out  the  life  of  the 
nation . 

It  is  this  profound  sense  of  mutual  responsibility  that 
has  caused  the  various  trades  and  professions  in  China 


HOW   THE  EMPIRE  IS  GOVERNED  31 

to  band  themselves  into  local  trades'  unions,  with  a 
headman  over  each,  who  acts  on  emergencies  and  tries 
to  protect  those  whom  he  represents.  The  headman 
is  conspicuous  everywhere  all  over  China,  and  is  a 
most  useful  personage  when  any  trouble  is  experienced. 
You  hire  a  boat,  for  example,  and  when  you  are? 
approaching  the  landing-place  some  of  the  boatmen 
lying  by,  waiting  to  be  hired,  take  liberties  with  you. 
You  send  for  the  headman  of  the  jetty  and  you  state 
your  case,  and  if  you  are  in  the  right  he  speedily 
brings  the  culprits  to  their  knees,  and  you  may  be  sure 
you  will  never  be  troubled  again  by  these  men,  though 
you  were  to  land  near  them  a  thousand  times. 

After  one  has  lived  in  China  for  some  time  and 
studied  its  institutions,  the  one  thought  that  strikes 
one  is  the  system  of  responsibility  that  pervades  every 
department  of  life.  This  is  not  of  a  loose  and  indefinite 
character,  but  is  so  thoroughly  organised,  that  one 
knows  exactly  where  to  lay  one's  hand  upon  any  one 
at  any  particular  crisis  when  the  blame  or  credit  for 
anything  has  to  be  located. 

In  order  to  facilitate  this  pervasive  idea  of  the  empire, 
society  has  spontaneously  divided  itself  into  sections 
with  a  headman  to  each,  to  whom  the  members  can 
look  for  protection  when  difficulties  arise.  Each  trade, 
for  example,  has  its  headmen,  who  sedulously  guard 
the  interests  of  the  whole  and  who  are  responsible 
for  any  infraction  of  right  by  any  of  its  members. 
The  pawnshops  of  a  town  select  one  to  represent  all 
the  rest  in  case  of  litigation,  or  of  any  attempt  on  the 
part  of  the  mandarins  to  squeeze  any  one  of  their, 
number.  Every  village  has  its  headmen  and  almost 
every  important  street,  in  every  city  in  the  country, 
and  even  the  very  beggars,  poor  and  ragged  and 
unsavoury,  have  their  headman,  who  claims  a  share  of 
their  earnings,  but  who  at  the  same  time  protects  them 
in  their  rights  and  stands  between  them  and  oppression. 

Now,  in  the  official  life,  even  more  than  in  the  social, 
the  master-thought  that  pervades  the  whole  is  still  that 
of  responsibility.  Each  holder  of  office  is  responsible 
to  the  one  next  in  rank  above  him,  and  so  in  endless 
gradations  till  the  Emperor  himself  is  reached.  A 
reference  to  facts  will  prove  this  to  be  the  case. 


32  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

The  very  lowest  man  in  office  is  called  the  Tipao 
(the  Protector  of  the  land).  He  is  the  headman  in  a 
ward.  Every  town  in  China  is  divided  into  so  many 
wards  ;  in  the  rural  districts  villages  are  grouped  into 
divisions  of  the  same  kind,  and  over  each  of  these 
there  is  a  Tipao.  This  man  is  usually  a  person  of 
no  education  and  no  social  standing,  and  as  a  rule  is 
conspicuous  for  the  absence  of  all  moral  qualities.  His 
functions  are  of  an  exceedingly  miscellaneous  descrip- 
tion. He  is  supposed  to  know  every  one  in  his  ward, 
his  occupations,  what  he  is  doing  either  by  day  or 
night,  what  scheme  his  brain  is  plotting,  and  what  are 
his  private  sources  of  income.  He  has  a  large  amount 
of  arbitrary  power,  for  he  can  refuse  to  allow  persons 
of  doubtful  reputation  or  uncertain  means  to  reside 
within  his  jurisdiction,  and  he  can  summarily  eject, 
without  any  process  of  law,  loose  characters  who  are 
a  trouble  to  the  community  and  who  may  not  halve  the 
means   of  bribing  his   goodwill. 

It  is  his  duty  to  report  to  his  superior  officer  any- 
thing important  that  is  going  on  in  his  ward,  and  to 
inform  him  of  everything  that  he  knows  concerning 
it,  and  a  great  deal  besides  that  he  could  not  possibly 
know.  He  is  liable  at  any  moment  to  be  beaten  into 
a  jelly  for  something  that  has  taken  place  in  his  district 
that  it  was  utterly  out  of  the  question  that  he  should 
be  aware  of.  The  Tipao,  therefore,  must  be  a  man  of 
fertile  imagination,  ready  wit,  and  easy  conscience.  Of 
course,  in  every  ward  there  are  bad  characters.  There 
are  opium-smokers  whose  fortunes  have  vanished  down 
their  pipes,  and  professional  thieves  who  sally  out  in 
the  small  hours  of  the  morning.  There  are  also 
gamblers,  consumed  with  a  passion  that  never  brings 
them  the  longed-for  wealth,  and  ballad  singers  who 
stand  in  the  dark  corners  of  the  thoroughfares  and 
sing  lurid  and  obscene  songs  to  the  little  knots  of 
men  that  look  bad  enough  to  have  just  come  from 
the   pit. 

Every  one  of  these  is  known  to  the  Tipao,  and  each 
one,  if  he  wishes  to  be  let  alone,  must  pay  blackmail  ; 
or  if  he  wishes  to  avoid  being  reported  to  the  local 
mandarin,  who  would  take  a  short  and  easy  method 
of   ridding   the   neighbourhood   of   his   presence.      The 


HOW  THE  EMPIRE  IS  GOVERNED  33 

Tipao  is  a  man  whose  morality  is  only  slightly,  if 
anything,  higher  than  the  dangerous  classes  he  has  to 
control.  He  is  consequently  willing  to  wink  at  a  great 
deal  so  long  as  it  does  not  become  so  outrageous  as 
to  attract  the  attention  of  the  public.  Still,  the  fact 
remains  that  he  is  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  the 
people  that  he  allows  to  remain  within  his  jurisdiction, 
and  he  may  be  called  upon  at  any  moment  by  his 
superior  to  undergo  the  severest  bodily  pains  for  things 
that  he  knows,  and  indeed  for  others  that  he  could 
not  possibly  have  known  about,  unless  he  were  possessed 
of  omnipresence. 

The  beautiful  theory  of  responsibility  that  permeates 
the  Chinese  brain  brushes  aside  the  ordinary  excuses 
that  weigh  with  an  Occidental,  and  the  man  is  held 
guilty  for  offences  that  no  single  human  being  could 
possibly  have  foreseen  or  prevented. 

I  will  now  give  an  illustration  of  what  I  mean.  Two 
men  were  gambling  in  an  obscure  part  of  the  town,  in 
a  room  hidden  away  from  observation.  A  dispute  arose 
over  the  game  which  ended  in  a  fight,  and  one  of  them 
received  a  fatal  stab.  It  was  two  o'clock  in  the  morn-, 
ing  when  this  took  place.  The  whole  city  was  asleep,, 
and  the  Tipao  and  his  family  were  in  bed,  so  that  he 
was  perfectly  unconscious  of  the  tragedy.  His  protesta- 
tions that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  matter  were  received 
with  a  sneer  and  with  the  remark,  *'  .Well,  then,  you 
ought  to  have  known."  "But  how  could  I?"  he 
modestly  replied.  **  Never  mind  how,*'  was  the  official 
answer,  **  that  is  your  business.  The  ward  is  in  your 
charge,  and  you  are  the  responsible  person  to  look 
after  it."  With  that  he  was  thrown  upon  his  face  and 
a  couple  of  sturdy  lictors,  who  had  been  looking  at 
him  with  hungry  and  expectant  eyes,  proceeded  to 
administer  with  their  bamboos  a  lesson  in  the  art  of 
ruling  a  ward  that  would  keep  him  in  a  recumbent 
posture  for  at  least  a  week  to  come. 

At  a  considerable  distance  above  the  Tipao  comes 
the  County  Magistrate,  the  most  important,  as  far  as 
the  people  are  concerned,  of  all  the  mandarins.  There 
are  many  superior  to  him  in  rank,  but  none  has  such 
large  executive  duties  to  perform  as  he.  Whatever^ 
orders   may   be    issued    by   the   highest   mandarins    in 

3 


34  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

regard  to  any  particular  county,  they  are  always  trans- 
mitted to  him,  and  it  is  he  that  must  see  to  the  carrying! 
of  them  out. 

His  duties  are  very  wide  and  very  important.  He 
is  the  executive  officer  of  the  county,  and  all  questions 
of  property,  taxes,  litigation,  as  well  as  of  crime,  have 
to  be  settled  in  his  court.  His  relation  to  the  people  is 
well  expressed  by  a  title  that  is  popularly  given  him 
by  them—**  The  mandarin,  who  is  the  father  and  mother 
of  his  people." 

The  family  being  the  ideal  type  for  the  government 
of  a  nation,  the  aim  of  the  Chinese  is  to  keep  thajt; 
thought  prominently  before  the  tninds  both  of  the  rulers 
and  of  the  ruled.  The  County  Magistrate  is  reminded 
by  this  title  that  the  parental  idea  must  be  always 
uppermost  in  his  mind  in  all  his  public  acts,  and  that 
whilst  he  has  to  administer  justice,  sternly  and  strictly, 
he  must  at  the  same  time  act  as  a  wise  and  loving, 
father  would. 

Two  villages,  for  example,  have  a  private  feud,  and 
one  day  they  seize  their  jingals,  and  a  number  are  killed 
on  both  sides.  A  son  goes  to  the  bad,  gambles  away 
everything  he  has,  and  in  his  effort  to  carry  off  some- 
thing from  his  father's  home,  he  knocks  him  down; 
and  kills  him.  A  band  of  thieves  from  the  next  county 
come  over  the  border  and  loot  a  pawnshopi,  and  murder 
some  of  the  inmates,  who  attempt  to  defend  their 
property.  These  disorders  are  not  put  down  to  the 
evil  passions  of  those  concerned  so  much  as  to  thel 
County  Magistrate,  who  is  also  styled,  perhaps  by  way 
of  a  joke,  **  The  man  that  knows  the  county."  They 
iare  the  result,  it  is  affirmed  by  his  superior  officers, 
of  some  mismanagement  or  of  something  defective  in 
his  moral  character.  The  theory  is  that,  when  a  ruler 
is  inspired  by  the  noblest  motives  and  his  life  is  pure, 
the  people  will  have  no  murderous  thoughts,  but  will 
be  inclined  to  follow  those  higher  instincts  that  Heaven 
has  implanted  in  the  breast  of  every  man. 

Though  the  Chinese  doctrine  of  responsibility  has 
its  defects,  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  has  ^Iso  its  good 
points.  How  often  in  England  have  disasters  occurred 
both  in  civil  and  military  life,  and  no  one  has  been 
punished  simply  because  the   responsibility  could  not 


HOW  THE  EMPIRE  IS  GOVERNED  35 

be  fixed  on  any  particular  person.  This  could  never 
be  the  case  in  China.  There  is  always  some  one  who 
can  be  made  answerable  for  any  mismanagement,  and 
who  can  be  punished  for  it. 

The  captain  of  a  man-of-war,  for  example,  is 
responsible  for  his  ship  under  every  circumstance.  The 
storm  may  rage,  and  the  great  seething  seas  may  drive 
her  upon  a  lee  shore,  but  no  alleviating  reasons  are 
allowed  to  be  urged  in  his  defence.  The  ship  had 
been  entrusted  to  him  by  the  Emperor.  It  was,  there- 
fore, sacred  property  which  he  was  bound  to  preserve 
intact  for  his  Majesty.  He  consented  to  take  charge 
of  the  vessel  knowing  full  well  the  responsibility  he 
incurred,  and  so  he  must  be  prepared  for  the  penalty 
that  he  knew  he  would  have  to  pay. 

A  friend  of  mine  was  captain  of  a  Corvette  at  the 
time  that  the  French  fleet  in  1884  attacked  the 
Chinese  tnen-of-war  in  the  harbour  of  Foochow.  In 
a  short  time  most  of  the  latter  were  battered  and  sunk 
and  the  crews  that  were  not  killed  were  floating  on  the 
river  amid  the  wreck  of  their  vessels.  My  friend,  seeing 
that  the  destruction  of  his  ship  was  inevitable,  slipped 
his  cable  and  turned  her  into  a  narrow  creek,  where 
he  sunk  her  in  shallow  water,  so  as  to  prevent  her  being 
captured  by  the  French.  He  knew  that  she  could  be 
easily  raised  again  after  the  enemy  had  retired.  One 
would  have  thought  that  he  would  have  been  praised 
for  saving  his  ship,  but  not  so.  His  conduct  was  con- 
sidered to  be  so  disgraceful  by  the  Board  of  War  in 
Peking  that  he  barely  escaped  with  his  life,  and  he  was 
sentenced  to  banishment  to  some  barren  region  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  River  Amur.  His  defence  that  he  really 
saved  his  vessel  had  no  weight  with  his  judges.  The 
question  was.  What  right  had  he  to  sink  a  ship  belong- 
ing to  his  Majesty?  He  was  responsible  for  her  and 
it  was  his  business  to  see  that  she  sustained  no 
damage,  either  from  the  violence  of  the  tempest  or  from 
the  shot  of  the  enemy. 

This  doctrine  of  responsibility  is  a  very  comfortable 
one  to  a  foreigner  when  he  is  travelling  through  the 
country.  The  innkeepers  where  he  lodges  are  so  afraid 
of  anything  happening  to  him  or  his  whilst  he  is  under 
their  roof  that  the  greatest  care  is  taken  whilst  he  is 


36  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

their  guest,  lest  they  should  be  called  to  account  for 
any  injury  done  to  him  or  his  property.  It  is  told 
how  on  one  occasion  a  certain  Boniface  pursued  a  guest, 
who  left  early  in  the  morning,  for  miles  along  the  road, 
with  some  article  that  he  had  left  behind  him.  He  was 
panting  and  perspiring  when  he  got  up  with  him  and 
there  was  great  amusement  when  the  innkeeper  with  a 
pleased  and  virtuous  look  handed  him  over  an  empty 
match-box. 

Passing  through  the  various  gradations  of  mandarins, 
who,  high  and  low,  are  but  cogs  in  the  huge  wheel  of 
state,  we  come  finally  to  the  Emperor  himself,  and  the 
question  now  krises.  To  whom  was  he  ^responsible?  for  it 
would  seem  to  suit  the  genius  of  the  Chinese  not  to 
allow  even  him  to  be  free  from  a  law  that  binds  every 
one  else  within  his  dominions. 

One  of  his  titles  has  been  the  *'  Sacred  Supreme," 
which  implied  that  he  stood  outside  all  criticism,  and 
that  he  was  the  one  man  in  China  that  never  needed 
to  give  an  account  of  his  actions  to  any  human  being. 
There  were  the  Six  Boards,  it  is  true,  that  assisted  in 
the  government  of  the  empire,  but  the  Emperor's 
authority  over  them  was  absolute,  and  he  could  over- 
ride their  decisions  at  his  will. 

The  censors,  too,  seem  to  have  had  the  power  of 
calling  in  question  the  conduct  of  their  Sovereign,  but 
their  influence  was  rather  a  moral  one  than  anything 
else.  Whenever  they  gave  their  advice,  or  called  in 
question  some  conduct  of  his  that  appeared  to  them 
injurious  to  the  State,  they  did  so  at  their  own  peril, 
for  they  were  liable  to  be  sent  into  banishment,  or 
even  to  be  executed,  should  their  conduct  be  resented 
by  him. 

And  yet  after  all  he  was  as  much  under  the  universal 
law  as  the  meanest  of  his  subjects,  only  that  he  was 
accountable  to  Heaven,  and  to  Heaven  only.  The 
theory  has  always  been  that  he  held  his  throne  by  its 
direct  decree,  and  accordingly  Heaven  considered  him 
responsible  for  the  way  in  which  he  carried  out  the 
duties  of  the  State.  When  he  was  conscientious  and 
acted  for  the  best  interest  of  his  people.  Heaven  sent 
down  blessings  upon  the  nation.  When  he  was  un- 
principled and   reckless,   famines   and  pestilences,  and 


HOW  THE  EMPIRE  IS  GOVERNED  37 

war,  and  revolution  were  the  punishments  that  the  same 
silent  Power  hurled  upon  the  people  for  his  sins.  This 
theory  is  as  old  as  the  Chinese  nation.  Eight  centuries 
before  Christ,  there  is  an  account  in  one  of  the  Chinese 
Classics,  called  the  Book  of  Odes,  of  an  eclipse  of  the 
sun  that  filled  the  empire  with  dismay,  and  in  some 
places  with  disaster.  The  mountains  were  so  terrified 
that  they  fell  into  the  plain  and  dammed  up  rivers  so 
that  floods  caused  widespread  desolation.  All  this,  it 
is  said,  was  the  result  of  the  misconduct  of  the  reigning 
monarch,  who  was  thus  reminded  by  Heaven  that  his 
iniquities  were  known,  and  that  severer  punishment 
would  be  meted  out  to  him  if  he  did  not  repent  and 
govern  his  kingdom  better. 

The  moral  element  in  the  government  of  the  empire  is 
a  very  large  factor  that  is  recognised  both  by  the  rulers 
and  the  ruled.  The  visible  machinery  that  is  composed 
of  living  men  is  like  a  huge  net,  the  meshes  of  which 
are  spread  with  never-ending  entanglement  and  which 
bind  each  successive  grade  and  division  of  society,  the 
one  to  the  other,  by  the  mysterious  bond  of  Responsi- 
bility. But  outside  of  all  this,  there  is  another  force, 
unseen,  mysterious,  but  with  eyes  that  never  close,  and 
a  purpose  that  can  never  be  turned  from  rectitude, 
and  that  is   Heaven. 

And  it  must  be  understood  that  whilst  the  Emperor, 
who  was  styled  the  Son  of  Heaven,  was  supposed  to  be 
specially  under  its  supervision,  and  to  hold  his  very 
crown  from  it,  this  great  impersonal  undefined  Power 
makes  no  distinctions  between  emperors  and  common 
people.  **  The  eyes  of  Heaven  "  with  keen  impartiality 
scan  the  wrongdoings  of  every  man  and  woman,  and 
send  down  punishment  upon  every  one,  no  matter  what 
his  position  may  be.  No  one  ever  disputes  this  fact, 
and  so  it  comes  to  pass  that  every  official,  from  the 
Tipao;  up  to  the  Son  of  Heaven,  whilst  he  feels  re- 
sponsible to  the  man  in  rank  above  him,  has  a  dim 
idea  that  outside  of  them  he  is  accountable  to  Heaven, 
who  will  one  day  bring  him  to  book  for  any  evil  that 
he  may  do. 

On  one  occasion,  in  a  large  southern  city,  the  people 
were  dying  in  large  numbers  from  the  effects  of  a  very 
deadly   fever   that    had   appeared   amongst   them.      In 


38  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

the  narrow,  crowded  streets  and  in  the  ill -drained,  un- 
savoury dwellings  men  and  women  died  by  hundreds. 
The  doctors  were  unable  to  cope  with  the  disease,  for 
their  medicines  seemed  to  have  lost  their  power.  A 
cry  of  agony  rose  from  every  direction  in  the  sorrowful 
city,  for  death  with  impartial  hand  carried  off  the 
young  man  in  the  very  vigour  of  his  strength,  the  young 
maiden  blooming  into  womanhood,  the  child  in  arms, 
and  the  old  man,  with  his  head  hoary  with  the  passage 
of  years.  The  town  was  in  a  panic,  for  the  fear  of 
death  was  in  the  heart  of  every  one.  Every  day  the 
tale  of  death  grew  larger  and  wild  rumours  increased 
the  feeling  of  alarm.  The  great  sun  looked  down 
with  a  face  of  fire  upon  the  doomed  city,  and  his  hot, 
scorching  rays  added  to  the  sorrows  of  those  who  were 
suffering. 

At  last,  the  chief  mandarin  of  the  town,  oppressed 
by  the  calamities,  and  with  a  sense  that  he  was  in  some 
measure  responsible  for  them,  determined  to  appeal  to 
Heaven.  He,  accordingly,  next  morning  at  the  earliest 
dawn  stood  out  in  the  open,  and  lifting  up  his  eyes 
to  the  grey  sky  pleaded  with  Heaven  to  take  away  the 
disease  from  the  town.  "  I  know  that  I  am  at  fault," 
he  said,  *'  that  I  have  misgoverned,  and  that  thou  art 
sending  down  death  upon  the  people  for  my  misdeeds. 
My  heart  is  wrung  with  sorrow  and  I  pray  Heaven 
that  my  sins  may  be  visited  upon  myself,  and  that  I  may 
die  if  only  the  suffering  may  be  saved." 

The  empire  is  thus  founded  upon  a  moral  basis.  The 
Emperor  had  got  his  crown  from  Heaven,  to  whom  alone 
he  is  responsible.  When  his  dynasty  finally  passed 
away  amid  revolution  and  murder  and  dire  disasters, 
the  hand  of  Heaven  was  seen  in  the  whole,  and  it  was 
because  the  rulers  were  unworthy  to  sit  on  the  Dragon 
Throne  that  they  were  compelled  by  that  unseen  but 
righteous  Power  to  give  way  for  better  men. 

The  profound  belief  that  Heaven  is  the  final  Court 
of  Appeal  when  misgovernment  has  driven  the  nation 
into  revolution  has  no  doubt  tended  to  keep  alive  the 
democratic  spirit  that  lies  deeply  imbedded  in  the 
Chinese  heart.  This  unseen  force,  like  some  mighty 
monster,  lay  slumbering  for  many  centuries.  For  many 
ages  it  never  had  a  proper  chance  of  asserting  itself. 


HOW  THE  EMPIRE  IS  GOVERNED  39 

The  lofty  ranges  of  mountains  on  the  west  lay  as  im- 
passable barriers  to  prevent  the  invasion  of  thought 
that  made  the  countries  beyond  throb  and  vibrate  with 
a  new  life.  The  mad  jealousy  of  the  mandarins  kept 
the  seaboard  provinces  from  being  tainted'  with  Western 
civilisation  and  revolutionary  ideas. 

The  nation  needed  stirring  by  some  great  act  that 
would  send  its  blood  flowing  in  a  surging  flood,  and  it 
may  be  truly  s,aid  that  the  first  throbbings  of  the  new 
life  that  is  pulsating  through  the  empire  to-day  began 
their  beat  when  the  echoes  of  the  English  guns  werie 
heard  reverberating  through  the  Empire.  Those  echoes 
have  never  died  out,  but  other  sounds  have  come  from 
the  West,  and  new  thoughts  of  life,  and  a  vision  of  a 
new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  has  flashed  into  men's  eyes, 
whilst  fairy  fingers  have  been  weaving  poetry  and 
romance,  that  have  inspired  men  with  conceptions  such 
as  their  fathers  never  dreamed  of  as  to  how  an  empire 
should  be  governed. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE     CHINESE     MILITARY     SYSTEM 

The  military  system  in  China  is  an  ancient  one  and 
dates  far  back  beyond  the  time  when  standing  armies 
became  an  established  institution  in  the  West.  This  is 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  in  the  very  early  days  of 
the  nation's  life,  fierce  and  bloody  contests  were  con- 
stantly being  waged  by  the  men  who  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  this  empire.  The  China  of  those  days  was  of 
very  limited  area,  and  consisted  of  a  considerable 
number  of  States,  nominally  acknowledging  one  as 
supreme,  but  independent  and  rebellious  when  they 
thought  themselves  strong  enough  to  resist.  They  were 
incessantly  at  war  amongst  themselves,  either  in  self- 
defence  or  in  the  attempt  to  master  and  absorb  the 
weaker  ones.  Finally,  one  State,  led  by  the  genius  of 
its  duke,  who  has  been  called  the  Napoleon  of  China, 
successively  conquered  all  its  rivals,  and  incorporating 
their  dominions  with  its  own  established  the  Tsin 
dynasty,  and  enthroned  him  the  first  Emperor  of  United 
China.  From  that  time  there  began  a  system  of 
conquest  that  has  resulted  in  the  building  up  of  the 
present  Chinese  Empire. 

People  in  the  West,  who  are  unacquainted  with  the 
history  of  the  Chinese,  think  of  them  as  an  essentially 
unwarlike  people  to  whom  the  idea  of  the  battlefield, 
and  fierce  struggles  with  brave  and  daring  foes,  is  one 
from  which  the  nation  has  always  shrunk.  This  is 
an  entire  mistake.  With  the  exception  perhaps  of  the 
English,  there  is  no  army  in  the  world  that  has  done 
so  much  fighting  in  the  past  as  the  Chinese.  The 
march  to  victory  has  been  one  vast  series  of  struggles, 
in  which  countless  lives  have  been  lost.  Fierce  and 
warlike  tribes  have  had  to  be  conquered.     High  moun- 

40 


THE  CHINESE  MILITARY  SYSTEM  41 

tains,  where  the  bones  of  many  an  army  have  been  left 
bleaching,  have  had  to  be  cHmbed  ;  vast  steppes,  where* 
hunger  and  starvation  have  exacted  their  toll,  have  had 
to  be  crossed  ;  but  with  indomitable  perseverance  this 
mighty  people  has  moved  along  the  track  of  fate  until 
it  has  been  consolidated  into  one  of  the  largest  empires 
in  the  world. 

But  it  has  not  been  in  the  battles  for  conquest  that 
the  qualities  of  the  Chinese  soldier  alone  have*  been 
displayed.  It  has  been  in  the  sterner  conflicts  of  self- 
defence  that  his  courage  has  been  most  conspicuously 
shown.  The  fertile  lands,  the  sunny  plains,  and  the 
fruitful  valleys  of  this  wonderful  country  have  always 
been  looked  upon  with  envy  by  the  warlike  races  that 
have  lived  along  its  northern  and  western  frontiers.. 
Many  a  bloody  campaign  has  been  fought  with  the 
fierce  Tartar  horsemen  that  came  down  in  mighty 
squadrons  to  invade  the  land,  only  to  be  hurled  back 
again  to  their  own  wilds,  defeated  and  dismayed. 

There  have  been  times,  it  is  true,  when,  through  the 
corruption  of  its  mandarins  and  the  incapacity  of  its 
emperors,  the  country  has  been  torn  from  their  grasp, 
and  a  foreign  dynasty  has  sat  on  the  Dragon  Throne  ; 
but  even  then  the  imperial  character  of  the  race  is 
shown  in  their  absorption  of  their  conquerors,  and  in 
the  conversion  of  them  into  Chinese.  An  example  of 
what  is  meant  may  be  seen  in  the  present  Man^chU 
dynasty.  Nearly  three  centuries  ago  the  Tartars  over- 
threw the  rulers  of  China  and  have  ever  since  held  the 
supreme  power  in  this  land.  Tartar  soldiers  as  of 
old  still  garrison  the  provincial  capitals,  and  men  of  the 
same  race  hold  high  appointments,  both  civil  and 
military,  throughout  the  eighteen  provinces,  but  no  one 
can  detect  the  difference  between  the  two  races  now. 
The  children  of  the  soldiers  that  seized  the  empire  are 
to-day  standing  side  by  side  with  the  descendants  of 
the  men  they  conquered,  and  in  dress  and  in  language 
and  in  modes  of  thought  they  have  become  identified 
with  the  vanquished. 

The  Chinese  Tommy  is  about  as  amusing  a  specimen 
of  the  man  military  as  it  is  possible  to  conceive  and 
instead  of  being  awed  by  his  appearance,  even  when  in 
large  bodies,   one's  first  impulse  is  to  look  upon  him 


42  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 


with  semi -contempt  and  with  a  smile  upon  one's  face. 
No  attempt  has  been  made  by  his  officers  to  give  him 
a  smart  and  soldierhke  air.  From  a  [Western  standpoint, 
he  has  never  had  any  drill  worth  talking  about.  He 
is  not  made  to  stand  erect  and  throw  out  his  chest,  so 
as   to  make  the  most  of  whatever  inches   Nature  has 

given   him.      His    soul    is   never   tortured   with   having  i 

to    learn   the   goose   step,    a   very   fortunate   thing   for  j 

him,   as   the  raw  material  out  of  which  Tommies   are  j 

made  in  this  land  has  very  confused  ideas  about  right  \ 

and  left  legs.     He  is  never  made  to  march  in  step',  but  \ 

is   allowed   to   straggle    on   with   his    comrades    in   the  \ 

fashion  that  will  best  suit  his  tastes  and  the  villainous  \ 
roads  over  v^hich  he  has  to  travel. 

There  is  one  very  offensive  thing  about  the*  soldier,  ] 

and  that  is  his  want  of  cleanliness.     His  superior  officers  \ 

pay  no  attention  generally  to  the  condition  either  of  his  \ 

clothes  or  of  his  person.     The  result  is  a  perfect  in-  i 

difference  to  soap  and  water.      He  has  a  grimy,  un-  \ 

washed  look,  as  though  he  always  slept  in  his  uniform  \ 

and  when  he  rose  in  the  morning  had  no  time  either  to  i 

wash   his    face   or   change    his   untidy,    frowsy -looking  \ 

garments  for  something  more  neat  and  attractive.     To  I 

add    to    his    utterly    unmilitary    air,    he    wears,    in    the  j 

southern  provinces  at  least,  neither  shoes  nor  stockings,  j 

When  he  is  on  the  march,  he  puts  on  straw  sandals  to  \ 

protect  his  feet,  but  when  he  is  not  on  duty  he  simply  j 

adopts  the  universal  custom  of  the  poorer  classes  and  | 

uses  the  shoes  that  Nature  has  given  him  to  wear.  j 

The  easy-going  nature  of  the  Celestial  gets  no  new  j 

impulse   by   his    becoming   a    *'  brave,"   and   he    is   as  \ 

simple  and  as  childlike  as  though  he  had  never  been  j 

appointed  to  fight  his  country's  battles.     It  is  no  un-  | 

common  thing  for  a  sentry  on  duty  to  be  seen  crouching  j 

down  in   the  favourite  national  position  on  his  heels,  \ 

with  a  gaping  crowd  around  hirn,  who  are  allowed  to  \ 

handle   his    rifle   whilst   he    is   explaining   to   them   its  | 

intricacies  and  ^ntly  hinting  his  own  conviction  that  j 

after  all  it  is   not   very  much  superior  to   the   native  \ 

jingal,  that  required  less  attention  and  did  not   dete-  | 

riorate  so  much  from  rust.  \ 

The  soldier's  uniform  has  evidently  never  given  the  | 

Government  very  much  anxiety,  for  it  differs  only  from  \ 


THE  CHINESE  MILITARY  SYSTEM  43 

the  dress  of  the  common  people  by  having  the  word 
**  brave  "  written  in  a  loud  and  staring  form  on  his 
breast,  and  also  on  his  back.  A  man  who  wishes  to 
disguise  himself  simply  turns  his  coat  inside  out,  and 
lo  !  he  is  at  once  transformed  into  a  simple  farmer  or 
a  workman  such  as  one  may  meet  anywhere  in  the 
streets. 

This  uniform  consists  merely  of  a  tunic  and  trousers, 
both  of  them  baggy  and  ill-fitting.  It  would  seem, 
indeed,  as  though  the  latter  had  been  designed  to  enable 
the  Chinese  to  adopt  his  favourite  but  inelegant  posture 
of  sitting  on  the  floor  with  his  knees  up  to  his  chin, 
whilst  his  arms  are  tightly  grasped  around  them.  Ten 
minutes  of  this  would  make  an  Englishman  so  cramped 
and  tired  that  it  would  become  intolerable  to  him,  but 
a  Chinese  looks  upon  it  as  the  very  acme  of  comfort. 

It  is  a  most  amusing  sight  to  see  a  detachment  of 
soldiers  proceeding  on  some  special  duty,  and  to  mark 
the  weapons  with  which  they  are  equipped.  Beside 
his  gun,  which  each  soldier  carries  with  the  barrel 
over  his  shoulder,  he  is  provided  with  a  fan.  That  it 
may  not  inconvenience  him  on  a  march,  the  handle  of 
it  is  stuck  a  short  way  down  his  back  under  his  clothes, 
whilst  the  other  end  projects  out  near  one  of  his  ears. 
If  the  day  be  hot,  he  will  spread  it  out  over  the  top 
of  his  head,  and  wind  his  queue  firmly  around  the 
handle,  thus  keeping  it  in  its  place  and  causing  it  to 
act  as  a  shade  from  the  powerful  rays  of  the  sun. 

Another  article  of  almost  equal  importance  is  his 
ba;mboo  pipe.  He  would  as  soon  think  of  leaving 
his  gun  behind  him  as  that.  It  is  to  be  his  solace  by 
the  way.  A  few  whiffs  now  and  again  ease  the  journey 
and  stay  the  pangs  of  hunger  when  the  stage  is  very 
long.  In  order  that  it  may  not  interfere  with  the  free- 
dom of  his  hands  he  sticks  it  horizontally  across  his 
back  in  his  waist -band. 

A  third  very  important  item  is  his  umbrella.  Every 
soldier  who  aims  at  respectability  has  one.  To  be  with- 
out one  is  to  cast  a  suspicion  upon  the  character  of 
the  **  brave,"  and  to  lead  onlookers  to  beheve  that 
he  is  no  better  than  he  ought  to  be.  The  practical, 
matter-of-fact  Chinese  does  not  believe  that  getting  wet 
adds   either  to  his  dignity  or   to   his   efficiency  as   a 


44  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

soldier,  and  though  the  umbrella  is  several  pounds 
weight,  and  is  a  clumsily  made  article  that  can  neither 
be  stuck  down  his  back  nor  thrust  into  his  waistband, 
he  is  prepared  manfully  to  carry  this  extra  burden  for 
the  sake  of  the  comfort  it  will  give  him  in  case  it 
should  rain  by  the  way. 

And  so  the  military  party  passes  before  us,  a  bur- 
lesque on  war  played  with  a  solemn  face  and  without 
a  wink  ;  and  yet  these  men  are  the  veritable  descendants 
of  the  soldiers  and  warriors  who,  disciplined  and  trained 
precisely  as  they  are,  by  their  heroism  and  deeds  of 
daring  added  province  after  province  to  the  empire, 
until  to-day  it  is  one  of  the  most  extensive  in  the  world. 

The  entrance  to  the  army  is  by  a  public  examination 
in  the  use  of  the  sword,  shield,  and  bow  and  arrow,  and 
in  the  ability  to  lift  heavy  weights.  A  description  of 
a  visit  to  one  of  these  may  be  interesting.  Arrived  at 
the  place  where  the  men  were  to  be  examined,  we  found 
a  number  of  common -looking  men  lounging  about,  wait- 
ing for  the  arrival  of  the  examiner.  By  and  by  he  came, 
trotting  upon  a  rough,  shaggy  pony,  that  looked  as 
if  it  had  never  been  groomed  in  its  life,  and  with  a 
long  stride,  supposed  to  be  highly  military,  he  dropped 
into  a  chair  that  had  been  placed  ready  for  him.  One 
of  the  candidates  was  then  ordered,  in  a  loud,  peremp- 
tory voice,  to  stand  forth  and  display  his  skill. 

He  was  a  great,  burly  fellow,  dressed  in  the  ordinary 
blue  cotton  tunic  and  bagg'y  trousers.  His  features  were 
heavy  and  phlegmatic -looking.  Good-humour  and 
density  seemed  to  be  the  chief  characteristics  of  the 
man  before  us.  There  did  not  seem  to  be  a  spark  of 
fire  about  him,  and  the  impression  we  got  of  him  was 
that  he  would  bolt  at  the  first  onslaught  of  an  advancing 
foe.  A  sword  and  a  shield  were  handed  to  him,  and 
another  man,  who  was  supposed  to  represent  the  foe, 
stepped  out  and  confronted  him.  This  man  was  armed 
with  a  longer  sword  than  the  recruit,  but,  as  the  latter 
had  a  shield,  he  was  supposed  to  have  an  advantage 
over  his  opponent.  At  a  given  signal  both  men  stood 
on  guard,  and  in  a  moment  our  recruit  had  become  sC 
new  man.  The  dull  look  had  vanished  from  his  face, 
his  eyes  flashed,  hidden  fires  that  lay  smouldering 
behind  those  stolid  features  lighted  up  his  countenance. 


THE  CHINESE  MILITARY  SYSTEM  45 

and  the  inert,  bovine -looking  creature  was  at  once  trans- 
formed as  if  by  magic  into  an  embryo  warrior. 

His  enemy  stepped  forward  warily  and  made  a  lunge 
at  him  with  the  sword.  With  his  body  slightly  bent, 
and  peering  over  his  shield  to  catch  the  first  motions 
of  his  opponent,  the  recruit  gripped  his  sword  with  a 
nervous  grasp  and  with  a  rapid  movement  of  his  shield 
stopped  the  blow  that  was  intended  for  his  body. 
Before  his  foe  had  time  to  recover  himself,  he  had  made 
a  violent  pass  at  him  that  demanded  all  his  dexterity 
to  avoid.  And  now  both  men  were  glowing  with  ex- 
citement. Each  one  felt  that  this  was  a  contest  in  which 
the  highest  skill  he  possessed  must  be  displayed. 
Attack  and  defence  followed  each  other  in  quick  suc- 
cession, and  we  were  particularly  struck  with  the 
dexterity  with  which  the  recruit  used  his  shield.  Now 
it  was  in  front  of  him  and  then  down  at  his  feet,  as  a 
sudden  lunge  had  been  made  at  his  legs.  A  moment 
after  it  covered  his  side  and  suddenly  it  flashed  up  to 
defend  his  head.  By  and  by  he  advanced  to  the 
attack,  and  then  were  seen  the  rapid  passes  he  could 
make  with  his  sword.  Sometimes  it  struck  straight  out, 
then  it  was  trying  to  cleave  his  foe,  and  anon  it  was 
making  a  sudden  sweep  upwards.  We  could  hatrdly 
follow  his  motions,  so  swift  were  they.  It  would  seem, 
indeed,  as  though  he  had  forgotten  that  this  was  only 
a  mimic  fight,  and  that  he  felt  that  his  very  life  de- 
pended upon  his  right  use  of  his  weapons.  Some  parts 
of  this  exhibition  appeared  exceedingly  ludicrous  to 
us,  but  not  so  to  the  onlookers.  They  thought  it  a 
splendid  exhibition  of  skill,  and  repeated  exclamations 
of  wonder  and  delight  broke  forth  from  the  bystanders 
at  some  displays  of  agility  that  seemed  more  consistent 
with  the  calling  of  a  mountebank  than  that  of  a  soldier. 

The  candidate  for  military  life  was  next  handed  a 
bow  and  three  arrows,  and  directed  to  shoot  at  a  target 
some  fifty  yards  distant.  He  was  lucky  enough  to  send 
each  of  them  into  the  bull's-eye.  This  is  required 
for  a  pass.  If  he  had  failed  he  would  have  been  dis- 
missed, with  the  advice  to  go  and  practise  and  come  up 
again  when  he  was  more  proficient. 

The  examiner,  satisfied  with  regard  to  his  skill  in  the 
management  of  his  weapons,  gave  him  a  final  trial  that 


46  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

would  test  his  physical  powers.  A  number  of  large 
stones  were  lying  promiscuously  about,  and  these  he 
was  ordered  to  lift  up  and  move  about  in  various  direc- 
tions. Taking  up  the  smallest,  which  must  have 
weighed  at  least  fifty  pounds,  he  poised  it  in  the  air, 
and  hfted  it  above  his  head  with  the  greatest  ease,  show- 
ing that  his  muscles  had  been  hardened  by  previous 
exercise.  One  by  one  he  took  up  the  larger  stones,  until 
at  last  he  was  grappling  with  the  heaviest,  that  was  fully 
one  hundred  pounds  weight.  With  this  he  had  evi- 
dently got  to  the  limit  of  his  streng'th,  for  his  face  was 
flushed  and  his  body  trembled  under  the  violent  effort 
that  was  required  to  lift  it  up  to  the  level  of  his  face^ 
He  had  proved,  however,  that  his  strength  was  quite 
sufficient  to  grapple  any  ordinary  man  that  he  might 
meet  with  in  battle  and  to  lay  him  on  his  back.  He  was 
accordingly  accepted,  and  his  name  was  enrolled 
amongst  those  of  the  soldiers  of  the  empire. 

The  examination  above  described  is  still  in  force 
throughout  China,  though  lately  a  knowledge  of  the 
rifle  has  been  demanded  as  well.  In  the  regiments 
that  are  drilled  after  the  Western  fashion  a  new  system 
is  in  force,  but  these  are  few  in  comparison  with  the 
large  numbers  throughout  the  different  provinces  that 
still  cling  to  the  methods  that  have  been  in  use  in  China 
from  the  very  earliest  times. 

After  the  recruit  has  been  accepted  he  joins  the 
regiment  to  which  he  is  appointed,  and  here  he  finds 
few  of  the  comforts  and  conveniences  that  await  the 
EngUsh  soldier  after  he  has  enlisted  in  the  service  of 
his  country.  The  barracks  usually  consist  of  a;  series 
of  rooms  about  twenty-five  feet  square,  each  of  which 
accommodates  ten  men.  Five  plank  beds  with  a  cover- 
let to  keep  them  warm,  a  rice  pan  for  cooking,  bowls 
and  chopsticks,  several  small  tables,  and  the  requisite 
number  of  wooden  forms,  make  up  the  furniture  of  the 
room.  The  severest  simplicity  marks  these  soldiers' 
quarters,  only  what  is  absolutely  necessary  for  daily 
use  being  provided  by  the  Government. 

The  soldier's  pay  is  about  fourteen  shillings  a  month, 
out  of  which  he  has  to  provide  himself  both  with  food 
and  any  luxuries  that  he  may  wish  to  indulge  in.  Ex- 
ceptingj  during  times  when  he  is  required  for  reviews  and 


THE  CHINESE  MILITARY  SYSTEM  47 

for  special  services  he  is  his  own  cook,  the  ten  men 
taking  it  in  turns  to  prepare  the  food  for  the  rest. 
When  he  is  off  duty  the  Chinese  soldier  is  vdry  free  from 
any  vexatious  supervision  by  his  officers.  There  is  no 
inspection  of  quarters,  and  no  question  about  the  cleanli- 
ness either  of  himself  or  of  his  clothes.  He  is  at  perfect 
liberty  to  wash  every  day  if  he  chooses,  and  he  has 
equal  liberty  to  abstain  from  doing  so  for  months  at 
a  time,  a  privilege  of  which  he  not  infrequently  takes 
advantage.  As  for  a:  bath,  if  he  were  to  ask  for  one 
there  would  be  such  a  roar  of  laughter  throughout  the 
regiment  that  the  echoes  would  never  die  out  of  his 
ears  as  long  as  he  was  with  the  colours. 

When  the  men  are  on  the  march  they  are  supplied 
with  food  in  addition  to  their  pay,  and  this  is  provided 
by  the  authorities  along  the  route.  A  memorandum  is 
forwarded  of  the  number  of  men  that  may  be  expected 
at  certain  stopping-places,  and  the  necessary  quantities 
of  rice,  salt  fish,  salted  turnips,  and  bean-curd  cakes 
are  all  ready  for  the  hungry  men,  who  at  once  set  to 
with  a  will  to  cook  the  things  that  have  been  provided 
for  them. 

The  march  of  a  body  of  soldiers  is  always  dreaded 
by  the  shopkeepers  along  the  route,  especially  when 
the  m^en  are  on  their  way  to  meet  the  enemy.  Discip- 
line, which  is  never  very  strict,  is  then  greatly  relaxed. 
The  men  are  going  to  imperil  their  lives  for  the  safety 
of  their  country,  and  it  seems  to  them  that  a  little 
licence  may  be  allowed  as  a  kind  of  solace  to  their 
feelings  for  the  dangers  they  are  about  to  incur.  The 
shops,  therefore,  are  laid  under  contribution  as  they 
pass  along,  and  no  one  dares  use  any  force  to  protect 
their  property  against  these  valiant  defenders  of  their 
country.  On  one  occasion,  a  thousand  men  started  from 
a  certain  city — hatless  ;  when  they  arrived  at  another, 
twenty  miles  farther  on,  every  man  had  a  brand  new 
hat,  for  which  no  payment  had  ever  been  made. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  soldiers  at  a;  place  where  there 
are  no  barracks,  they  are  usually  quartered  in  the  largest 
of  the  idol  temples.  No  one  sees  any  impropriety  in 
this  ;  in  fact,  it  is  supposed  to  be  a  very  proper  thing, 
for  they  come  then  under  the  immediate  care  of  the 
gods,-  who  are  now  bound  to  use  all  their  power  to 


48  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

secure  them  victory  when  they  come  into  contact  with 
the  enemy.  Whatever  opinion  the  troops  may  have 
on  this  subject,  they  certainly  do  not  pay  much  respect 
to  the  gods  whilst  they  are  inmates  of  their  temples. 
They  smoke  opium  and  play  cards,  and  swear  and 
quarrel  with  each  other  right  in  the  very  presence  of  the 
gods.  They  litter  the  building,  too,  with  all  kinds  of 
dirt,  so  that,  after  a  day  or  two's  residence,  they  leave 
it  in  the  most  filthy  condition  possible. 

Their  presence  in  any  place  is  always  a  source  of 
terror  to  its  inhabitants.  As  very  often  happens,  the 
mandarins,  in  providing  rations  for  the  troops,  make 
their  own  squeezes  out  of  the  business,  and  supply  them 
with  insufficient  or  inferior  provisions.  The  soldiers  dare 
not  appeal  to  their  commissariat  officer,  for  they  would 
receive  the  severest  punishment  for  even  hinting  at 
the  fact  that  the  authorities  had  been  making  money 
out  of  them.  The  only  course  left  to  them  is  to  revenge 
themselves  upon  the  people  who  are  quite  guiltless  in 
the  matter.  A  foray  is  accordingly  proposed  by  some 
of  the  bolder  spirits  amongst  the  men,  and  by  and  by 
the  quietest  quarters  of  the  town  are  startled  by  seeing 
chickens  with  outstretched  wings  and  open  mouths  flying 
in  terror  before  half  a  dozen  wild-looking  soldiers. 
Small  and  succulent-looking  pigs  mysteriously  dis- 
appear, and  their  mistresses  make  their  usual  meal  call 
cries,  but  in  vain,  for  they  never  wander  back  to  their 
homes  again.  Fruit  and  cakes  and  various  kinds  of 
delicacies  are  bought  on  credit,  without  the  consent  of 
their  owners,  with  the  promise  that  they  will  be  paid  on 
the  morrow,  a  day,  however,  that  never  comes  round. 
Later  on,  savoury  odours  rise  throughout  the  temples 
and  wind  their  unseen  ways  around  the  wondering 
idols,  causing  the  mouths  of  the  uncouth  soldiery  to 
water  and  their  eyes  to  sparkle  with  delight  in 
expectation   of  the  coming  feast. 

The  officers  in  the  army  are  mainly  those  that  have 
risen  from  the  ranks,  though  it  is  possible  for  men  by 
passing  their  examination  to  get  their  commissions. 
The  subjects  are  the  same  that  the  common  soldier  is 
examined  in  ;  but  when  a  man  goes  in  for  a  higher 
rank  the  trials  are  made  more  difficult,  and  a  higher 
standard  of  efficiency  is  demanded.     There  must  also 


THE  CHINESE  MILITARY  SYSTEM  49 

be  a  certain  amount  of  bribing  to  secure  the  goodwill 
of  the  examining  official.  The  officers,  however,  that 
are  most  respected  and  at  the  same  time  most  feared 
are  the  men  who  have  been  distinguished  for  their 
daring  in  front  of  the  enemy,  and  who  have  won  their 
rank  by  such  soldierly  conduct  as  will  gain  the  homage 
of  the  men  they  command.  Nearly  every  officer  who 
has  risen  to  high  position  has  done  so  by  the  display 
of  conspicuous  courage  and  by  such  military  talents 
as  have  compelled  his  superior  officers  to  recognise 
his  ability. 

Some  years  ago,  the  general  commanding  the  troops 
in  the  region  where  the  writer  lives  was  an  example 
of  this.  When  he  was  a  young  man  he  was  wild 
and  dissipated.  He  refused  to  be  bound  by  the 
restraints  of  home,  or  submit  to  the  ordinary  rules 
of  society,  so  that  he  was  surely  drifting  into  that 
wretched  state  of  vagabondism  that  would  have  ulti- 
mately landed  him  in  the  ranks  of  thieves  and  rogues. 
In  a  happy  moment  it  occurred  to  him  that  it  would  be 
a  good  thing  for  him  were  he  to  join  the  army.  War 
was  then  going  on  with  the  savages  in  Formosa,  and 
men  were  wanted  to  supplement  the  forces  there.  He 
was  looked  upon  as  a  most  acceptable  recruit.  He 
was  a  finely-made  man,  with  huge  physical  powers, 
and  just  the  one  to  stand  before  the  sudden  onslaught 
of  the  wild  men  of  the  island,  who  with  dishevelled 
hair  and  ferocious  aspect  were  accustomed  to  rush  out 
from  their  ambuscades  in  the  primeval  forests  and 
carry  off  the  gory  heads  of  slaughtered  Chinese  to  their 
fortresses  in  the  mountains. 

Lin  was  not  left  long  to  ponder  over  the  step  he 
had  taken.  In  a  few  days  he  was  sent  off  with  a 
detachment  across  the  stormy  waters  of  the  Formosa 
Channel,  and  he  landed  on  the  island  unconscious  that 
here  his  fortunes  were  to  be  made  and  his  vagabond 
life  to  be  excha^iged  for  one  of  honour  and  renown. 
His  bravery  was  so  conspicuous  that  he  was  speedily 
raised  to  the  command  of  ten  men. 

Not  long  after  he  had  been  promoted  there  was  a 
fierce  conflict  with  the  savages.  Large  numbers  of 
them  had  emerged  from  the  forest  and  had  come  down 
like-  lightning  upon  the  Chinese  troops,  who  had  been 

4 


50  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

compelled  to   give  way.     Lin,   who   was  carrying  the    ; 
flag  of  his  company,  found  himself  retiring  before  the    \ 
enemy,  when  all  at  once  he  discovered  that  in  the  melee    \ 
he  had  lost  his  sword.     This  meant  disgrace  and  loss 
of  rank,  and  possibly  even  death  itself  when  the  matter 
was    reported    to    the    General.      Better    die    now,    he    ; 
thought,  honourably,  than  by  the  hands  of  the  execu-    ' 
tioner.     At  all  hazards  he  must  regain  his  sword,  so 
without  a  moment's  thought  he  rushed  back  right  into     : 
the   midst   of   the   pursuing   enemy,    and   his   men   not     ; 
knowing  the  reason,  but  seeing  the  flag  waving  in  the    j 
direction  of  the  foe,  with  the  instinct  of  discipline  rushed    ' 
back  after   their  leader.      The   savages   were  thunder- 
struck.     They   had   considered  that   the    Chinese   were 
utterly    routed.      These    must    be    the    reserves,    they 
thought,    that    were    being    brought    up    against    them. 
A    panic    seized    upon    them,    and    in    an    instant    the    ) 
victorious  foe  was  flying  in  the  wildest  disorder  before    '[ 
the  Chinese  forces.     After  the  fight  was  over,  Lin  was    ■ 
called  before  the  General,  who,  in  the  presence  of  his    \ 
staff,  eulogised  the  bravery  that  had  been  the  cause  of    [ 
the  victory  and  promoted  him  to  a  higher  rank.      In 
course  of  time  he  rose  from  one  grade  to  another  until    j 
finally  he  was  put  in  command  of  the  troops  in  a  large    ; 
and  important  military  district. 

The  Chinese  soldier,  as  he  is  at  present  constituted  ; 
and  handled,  is  not  one  for  whom  any  one  can  have  a  > 
profound  admiration.  His  military  education  has  been  ; 
such  as  to  draw  out  his  very  worst  qualities.  His  want  ; 
of  bravery  is  due  rather  to  circumstances  than  to  any  ; 
inherent  defect  in  his  own  nature.  It  is  impossible 
to  conceive  the  idea  that  China  has  risen  to  be  a  first-  • 
rate  Eastern  power,  whilst  its  people  have  been  abso-  ' 
lutely  deficient  in  animal  courage.  What  the  soldier  in  ' 
this  land  needs  is  properly  trained  men  of  undoubted  ; 
courage  to  lead  him,  and  to  be  surrounded  by  higher  ; 
and  more  chivalrous  influences  than  those  that  touch 
him  in  his  barrack  life.  General  Gordon  showed  how  ; 
the  raw  material  could  be  developed  into  soldiers  who  ' 
by  their  valour  and  success  merited  the  high-sounding 
title  of  "  The  Ever  Victorious  Army." 

The  Weihaiwei  regiment  showed  by  its   conduct  at 
the  capture  of  Tientsin  from  the  Boxers  of  what  stuff    ■ 


THE  CHINESE  MILITARY  SYSTEM  51 

the  Chinese  are  made.  The  North-China  Herald^  of 
September  5,  1900,  in  referring  to  the  battle  in  which 
the  regiment  took  part,  says:  '*  There  has  been  a 
great  deal  of  prejudice  against  the  regiment,  largely, 
born  of  the  conviction  in  many  minds  that  the  Chinese 
are  no  good  as  soldiers.  Certainly  these  prejudices 
do  not  appear  to  have  been  justified  so  far.  They 
fought  bravely  and  well  under  the  walls  of  Tientsin. 
Let  it  be  remembered  that  they  fought  with  our  troops, 
and  on  the  side  of  civilisation  and  humanity  at  a  time 
when  these  abstractions  had  few  friends  amongst  the 
Chinese. 

**  It  has  often  been  remarked  that  the  Chinese  only 
need  leaders,  and  the  brief  history  of  the  Weihaiwei 
regiment  confirms  this  judgment.  When  men  will 
follow  their  officers  up  a  long,  straight  street  swept  by 
bullets,  as  No.  4  Company  followed  Captain  Watson, 
they  cannot  be  hopeless  as  soldiers.  The  regiment 
that  can  furnish  a  man  to  escort  an  ammunition  mule 
to  the  firing-line,  who  will  hold  on  to  his  charge,  whilst 
both  officers  and  mule  are  shot,  only  to  perish  himself, 
is  not  an  altogether  useless  regiment.  Europeans  who 
saw  the  conduct  of  this  man  after  Captain  OUivant  had 
been  killed  speak  of  a  merited  Victoria  Cross." 

In  the  preceding  pages  I  have  endeavoured  to 
describe  the  Chinese  soldier  of  the  empire.  It  is  true 
that  a  certain  number  of  regiments  have  been  drilled 
and  organised  in  Western  methods.  One  who  is 
not  acquainted  with  the  true  facts  of  the  case  is  apt 
to  imagine  that  a  completely  new  system  has  been 
brought  into  operation  wherever  the  soldier  may  be 
found.  This  is  a  mistake.  There  are  vast  regions  in 
this  great  country  where  the  soldier  remains  practically 
unchanged.  The  men  that  have  been  winning  the 
battles  in  the  present  revolution  have  been  mainly  those 
who  have  never  been  trained  in  the  new  system.  A 
vision  of  freedom  from  their  hated  conquerors  has  come 
as  a  tremendous  inspiration,  and  so  they  have  fought 
with  a  daring  and  a  courage  that  have  brought  victory 
to  their  standards.  The  new  Republic  will  see  to  it  that 
its  soldiers  shall  be  so  trained  that  they  will  be  able  to 
defend  the  honour  of  their  country  before  all  comers. 


1         CHAPTER    IV 

LITERARY   DEGREES 

It  has  always  been  the  dream  and  hope  of  nearly  every 
father  in  China  that  when  a  son  is  born  in  the  family 
he  shall  one  day  become  a  scholar.  This  is  an  ambition 
that  seems  to  spring  up  in  his  heart  with  the  coming  of 
the  child  that  has  brought  such  sunshine  into  his  home. 
The  poorest  can  indulge  in  this  luxury  of  thought  just 
as  freely  as  the  wealthiest,  for  in  China  the  possibilities 
of  wealth  and  honour  lie  not  within  the  grasp  of  any 
particular  class  of  society.  The  student  class  is 
recruited  from  every  station  of  life,  excepting  those 
prohibited  by  law.  The  sons  of  prostitutes,  of  play 
actors,  of  barbers  and  a  few  others,  may  not  compete 
for  any  degree.  Beyond  these,  any  man  may  rise  to 
the  highest  honours  that  the  State  can  confer,  for  in 
theory,  at  least,  the  one  royal  road  to  distinction  is 
education. 

The  civil  rulers  of  the  country  must  be  taken  from 
the  scholars  of  the  empire,  and  when  it  is  considered 
how  many  of  these  are  required  to  carry  on  the  official 
duties  of  this  immense  country,  it  may  easily  be  con- 
ceived what  an  influential  and  powerful  class  they  are. 
The  undergraduates  who  have  failed  in  getting  their 
degrees  are,  of  course,  exceedingly  numerous,  and 
though  they  have  no  official  position,  they  still  exercise 
a  very  considerable  influence  in  their  own  immediate 
districts.  They  are  the  teachers  in  the  schools  and  the 
leading  spirits  in  the  villages.  Their  education  places 
them  far  above  the  common  people,  and  in  times  of 
difficulties  with  the  rulers,  or  in  their  village  feuds  and 
class  fights,  they  are  the  men  whose  counsel  is  sought 
and  who,  naturally,  assume  the  position  of  leaders. 
As    they    band    together    for    mutual    protection    into 


A   MANDARIN   AND   HIS  SON,    WHO   HAS  JUST  TAKEN   HIS  B.A. 


:  o  face  p.  53. 


LITERAEY  DEGREES  53 

associations,  they  are  a  very  dangerous  class  to  come 
into  collision  with,  for  each  man  has  not  only  the  club 
to  which  he  belongs  behind  him,  but  also  the  men  of 
his  own  clan,  who  will  stand  by  him  through  thick  and 
thin,  with  all  the  resources  they  have  at  their  command. 
Taken  as  a  whole,  they  are  a,  very  unscrupulous  body 
of  men.  Their  wits  have  been  sharpened  by  their 
studies,  whilst  their  moral  sense  seems  to  have  been 
paralysed  during  the  process.  They  are  the  mortal  foes 
of  progress,  and  they  are  the  bitterest  and  most 
inveterate  haters  of  the  foreigner,  no  matter  to 
what  nationality  he   may  belong. 

There  were  four  degrees  given  to  successful  scholars 
in  China:  (i)  sluisai,  "refined  talent";  (2)  kajen, 
**  exalted  man";  (3)  tsinsze,  "advanced  scholar"; 
and  (4)  hanlin,  that  is,  a  member  of  the  Imperial 
Academy  at  Peking.  The  first  is  obtained  at  the  exami- 
nations held  in  the  prefectural  city  to  which  the 
candidate  belongs,  the  second  in  the  provincial  capital, 
and  the  last  two  at  Peking.  In  the  final  one,  the 
Emperor  himself  is  the  examiner. 

The  scholarship  that  has  been  demanded  to  gain  any 
of  the  above  degrees  is,  from  a  Western  standpoint, 
very  meagre  and  limited  in  character,  and  would  be 
considered  ridiculously  small  to  our  students  in 
England.  All  that  has  been  required  of  them  is  a 
profound  knowledge  of  the  Confucian  classics.  The 
elementary  subjects  that  every  boy  has  to  study  in 
our  advanced  schools,  to  say  nothing  of  the  higher 
branches  that  are  taught  in  our  universities,  were  quite 
unknown  to  the  Chinese  student.  Mathematics, 
astronomy,  geometry,  geology,  &c.,  are  terms  that  were 
almost  unknown  to  him,  and  as  for  the  purely  scientific 
subjects  that  our  young  men  and  women  have  to  study, 
they  had  not  yet  entered  the  horizon  of  the  scholar's 
life  in  this  country. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  from  this  that  the  course  of 
study  that  had  to  be  gone  through  by  the  Chinese 
student  has  been  an  easy  one.  In  many  respects  it 
has  been  a  more  severe  one  than  the  English  lad  has 
to  go  through.  He  had  to  learn  all  the  classics  off  by 
heart,  together  with  their  recognised  commentaries.  The 
subjects   are  often  crabbed,   and  always  more  or   less 


54  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

dry  and  uninteresting.  They  do  not  deal  with  human 
life,  but  with  abstract,  moral,  and  philosophical  ques- 
tions. There  is  no  play  for  real  thought,  and  there  is 
no  education  of  the  imagination  by  the  study  of  Nature. 
The  whole  thing  is  a  hard  grind,  first  of  all  to  master 
the  thousands  of  mysterious-looking  hieroglyphs  in 
which  the  books  have  been  written,  and  then  to  store 
them  away  in  the  memory  so  that  every  word  and  phrase 
in  the  entire  book  shall  be  so  familiar  that  the  student 
shall  be  able  to  quote  them  accurately  whenever  occa- 
sion demands.  No  English  student  could  stand  the 
wear  and  tear  and  frightful  pressure  upon  both  body 
and  mind  involved  in  these  two  things.  How  many  a 
Chinese  scholar  has  broken  down  under  this  awful  strain 
and  has  been  laid  to  rest  on  the  hillside,  while  the 
coveted  honours  were  still  in  the  distance,  only  those 
who  have  studied  this  question  can  even  attempt  to 
imagine. 

For  the  examination  for  the  first  degree  there  were 
four  subjects  in  which  a  man  had  to  pass,  viz.,  a 
poem  either  in  fives  or  sevens  and  not  exceeding  sixty 
words  ;  a  metrical  composition  of  irregular  metre, 
describing  some  famous  building  or  object  in  ancient 
times  ;  a  double-barrelled  essay  on  some  quotation 
from  the  classics  ;  and  a  discourse  on  any  prominent 
subject,  either  of  ancient  or  modern  times,  that  the 
examiner  may  see  fit  to  choose. 

The  subjects  for  the  poem  were  of  a  suggestively 
poetical  character,  and  were  such  as  would  touch  into 
life  the  latent  imagination,  and  cause  it  to  burst  forth 
into  poetry.  The  following  were  themes  which  have 
been  given  in  bygone  examinations,  and  which  have 
been  treated  so  beautifully  and  with  such  a  true  poetic 
spirit  running  through  them  that  they  have  been  printed 
and  are  studied  as  models  by  the  scholars  of  the 
country  :  "  Where  is  the  bell  that  I  hear  sounding 
amongst  the  lofty  mountains?  "  that  is,  the  bell  from 
some  monastery,  perched  on  the  side  of  some  lonely 
mountain  and  whose  sweet  sounds  break  upon  the  ear 
in  the  solitude  of  some  lofty  range.  **  The  parting  of 
friends  at  Nanpau,"  referring  to  an  incident  in  the  life 
of  a  famous  mandarin  when  he  was  leaving  the  district, 
over  which  he  had  ruled,  for  his  distant  home.     "  The 


LITERARY  DEGREES  55 

emerald  wavelets  of  the  spring  waters/*  in  reference 
to  the  waters  that  come  tumbling  down  the  mountain- 
sides after  the  spring  rains,  and  their  emerald  sheen 
caught  from  the  sun  as  they  rush  headlong  down  to 
the  plain  below  ;  **  The  singing  of  the  birds  in  spring  "  ; 
"  The  spring  pomegranate/'  &c. 

Many  of  the  poetical  compositions  have  the  ring 
of  genuine  poetry  about  them.  They  show  a  wonder- 
ful insight  into  Nature,  and  they  contain  lofty  flights 
of  imagination  that  would  do  credit  to  some  of  the 
famous  poets  of  the  West.  This  is  all  the  more  wonder- 
ful, as  the  Chinese  at  first  sight  looks  like  a  man  in 
whose  soul  no  poetic  fire  has  ever  burned.  With  his 
dull,  phlegmatic  look  and  rough,  unpoetic  features,  one 
would  as  soon  expect  an  exquisite  description  of  some 
charming  bit  of  Nature  from  an  old  cow  or  a 
rhinoceros. 

The  Celestial,  however,  is  a  many-sided  man,  and 
possesses  talent  and  resources  that  one  would  never 
dream  of  from  his  stolid,  inartistic  looks.  He  has, 
moreover,  a  genuine  love  of  Nature,  and  an  eye  quick 
to  perceive  her  charms,  and  he  seems  to  be  endowed 
with  a  special  instinct  to  discover  the  beautiful  in  her, 
and  with  true  poetic  language  to  reveal  to  others  the 
beauties  that  she  coyly  hides  from  those  who  have  not 
the  artistic  eye. 

For  the  metrical  composition  the  subjects  selected 
were  by  no  means  poetical  in  their  character,  but  they 
must  follow  certain  well-defined  laws  of  metre,  after 
the  Martin  Tupper  style,  which  should  take  away  their 
prose  appearance  and  give  them  the  semblance  of 
having  been  written  by  some  genius  in  the  art  of 
rhyming  that  will  ere  long  bud  out  into  a  full-blossomed 
poet.  The  following  are  the  subjects  that  have  been 
given  by  examiners  in  the  past  :  "  Describe  the  famous 
palace  of  Shih  Huangti,  the  first  Emperor  of  China." 
**  Give  a  description  of  the  brass  peacock  platform 
raised  during  the  period  of  the  three  kingdoms."  This 
celebrated  platform  was  built  by  one  of  the  usurpers 
during  the  troubles  that  distracted  China  at  the  time 
when  the  country  was  divided  amongst  three  rival  com- 
petitors (a.d.  221-65),  ^^  order  to  enable  him  to  see 
over  a  long  reach  of  country  so  that  he  might  be  made 


56  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

aware  of  the  coming  of  an  enemy.  Another  subject  that 
was  once  given  is  "The  Pomegranate  in  the  Palace.'* 
This  was  a  celebrated  tree  that,  during  the  Han  dynasty, 
three  times  a  day  drooped  its  leaves  as  though  it  had 
gone  to  sleep  and  three  times  raised  them  again  as 
though  refreshed  by  its  nap. 

The  subjects  of  the  essay  were  taken  from  the 
classics,  and  a  man  could  either  deal  with  them 
critically  or  he  could  evolve  his  own  ideas  from  them. 
The  following  have  been  selected  from  former  examina- 
tion papers  :  *'  Hungry  and  thirsty  "  ;  "  Is  it  not 
pleasant  to  have  friends  come  from  afar?  "  ;  "Is  virtue 
a  thing  remote?";  "I  wish  to  be  virtuous  and  lo  ! 
virtue  is  close  to  me  "  ;  *'  Sincerity  is  the  way  of 
heaven  "  ;    "  Let  compassion  rule  punishment." 

The  discourse  was  of  a  more  general  nature  and 
dealt  with  a  wider  range  of  subjects,  stretching  away, 
indeed,  into  the  remote  past  and  coming  down  to  the 
events  of  the  present  day.  One  of  the  subjects  that 
was  selected  in  days  gone  by  was  the  following  :  '*  Give 
an  account  of  the  burning  of  the  classics  by  Shih 
Huangti."  This  refers  to  the  determined  purpose  of 
that  famous  monarch  to  eradicate  every  vestige  of  the 
sacred  books  out  of  the  kingdom,  so  that  they  could 
never  be  studied  again.  He  was  influenced  to  this 
action  because  the  scholars,  who  were  imbued  with  the 
teachings  of  these  books,  had  been  his  bitter  opponents 
in  the  reforms  he  wished  to  carry  out  in  his  newly- 
formed  empire.  Another  subject  was,  '*  Describe  the 
Great  Wall  of  China,  and  give  an  account  of  railways 
and  iron  ships  of  war."  This  last  shows  the  tendency 
of  the  reforms  that  the  present  Emperor  Kuang  Su 
initiated  in  1898  and  into  what  new  paths  the  imperial 
Examiners  were  led  by  this  distinguished  occupant  of 
the  Dragon  Throne. 

To  write  out  these  essays  and  discourses  there  must 
be  a  very  thorough  knowledge  of  every  word  contained 
in  the  classics,  as  well  as  of  those  in  the  recognised 
commentaries  on  them.  This  in  itself  was  a  most 
gigantic  task,  and  would  crack  the  brain  of  any  one 
•  but  a  Celestial.  Each  character  had  to  be  learned  by 
itself,  for  it  is  a  complete  picture  with  a  foreground 
and   background  uniquely  its   own,   and   it  had   to   be 


LITERARY  DEGREES  67 

studied  and  mastered  as  though  it  were  the  only  one 
in  the  language.  No  mistake  was  allowed  here.  A 
misquotation  or  the  writing  of  a  character  wrongly 
would  cause  the  composition  to  be  at  once  thrown  aside 
by  the  Examiner  and  deprive  the  candidate  of  all  hope 
of  getting  his  degree. 

Just  imagine  five  or  six  thousand  of  those  square 
little  words,  with  an  old-world  look  upon  their  faces 
as  though  they  had  come  out  of  the  Ark.  They  are  as 
dry  and  as  sober  as  though  they  were  mathematical 
figures,  and  yet  each  one  has  its  story  hidden  behind 
those  complicated  dots  and  strokes.  The  student  has 
to  penetrate  within  these,  and  with  busy  memory  catch 
the  fleeting  forms  that  flit  behind  them,  and  piece  out 
the  tale  of  love  and  hate,  of  passion  and  murder,  of 
human  frailties  and  noble  purposes  that  lies  concealed 
within  the  folds  of  those  mystic  symbols.  This  in 
itself  is  a  task  enough  for  a  giant  to  perform. 

When  the  student  had  accomplished  this,  the  task 
yet  to  be  performed  was  still  a  mighty  one.  The 
whole  of  the  sacred  books  had  to  be  committed  to 
memory,  and  the  meaning  of  all  the  words  and  phrases, 
that  were  written  nearly  three  thousand  years  ago,  to 
be  mastered  so  as  to  satisfy  the  conservative  ideas 
of  the  Examiners  who  had  the  power  of  conferring 
degrees. 

A  first-rate  Chinese  scholar  is  a  prodigious  monu- 
ment of  the  survival  of  brain  and  intellect  after  such  a 
strain  as  all  this  imposes.  The  books  themselves  are 
on  the  whole  the  dryest  of  the  dry.  Human  life  has 
been  squeezed  out  of  them  as  much  as  possible  by 
the  old  philosophers  and  thinkers,  who  do  not  seem 
to  have  had  a  very  lofty  conception  of  ordinary  and 
common  humanity.  Their  style  is  curt  and  sententious, 
as  though  the  men  that  wrote  them  had  either  never 
studied  the  art  of  composition  or  were  too  busy  to 
go  into  details.  There  is  neither  romance  nor  excite- 
ment in  them.  Noble  sentiments  and  the  highest 
morality  flash  across  their  pages,  but  the  teaching  is 
too  much  divorced  from  common  life.  We  long  to 
hear  the  voices  of  men  and  women  and  the  laughter  of 
children  and  the  sound  of  the  human  voice,  but  we 
never  do.     How  different  was  the  method  that  Christ 


58  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

adopted  I  His  discourses  are  full  of  life,  and  men  and 
women  pass  before  our  view,  and  crowds  flit  before  us, 
and  human  joys  and  sorrows  are  portrayed  in  language 
so  simple  that  we  feel  as  though  we  were  moving  amid 
the  very  scenes  that  are  so  vividly  pictured  before  us. 

In  the  second  degree  for  kajen  the  subjects  were  the 
same  as  for  the  first,  the  only  difference  being  that  to 
obtain  the  more  advanced  degree  a  more  chaste  and 
classical  style  of  composition  and  a  more  profound 
knowledge  of  different  subjects  were  demanded  by  the 
Examiners.  The  examination  for  this  degree  was  held 
in  the  capital  of  the  province.  As  many  of  the  provinces 
are  of  considerable  extent,  it  often  happened  that  some 
of  the  men  had  to  travel  two  or  three  hundred  miles 
before  they  could  reach  the  city.  Considering  the  bad 
roads  and  the  difficulty  of  locomotion,  that  meant  steady 
walking  every  day  for  nearly  a  month.  But  independent 
of  the  mere  physical  labour  involved  in  this  there  was 
what  is  of  far  more  importance  to  the  scholar,  viz., 
the  question  of  expense.  The  most  of  the  men  were 
as  poor  as  Job  or  the  proverbial  church  mouse,  and 
so  it  became  a  vast  problem  to  the  majority  of  them 
how  they  were  to  scrape  together  enough  to  pay  for 
their  food  and  lodging  whilst  they  were  away  from 
home. 

Many  stories  are  told  of  the  sufferings  that  these 
men  had  to  endure  in  their  struggle  for  fame  who 
subsequently  became  distinguished  in  the  annals  of 
their  country.  An  incident  that  took  place  in  connec- 
tion with  a  steep  and  rugged  hill  that  lies  right  across 
the  public  highway  in  a  certain  district  in  South  China 
has  perpetuated  the  memory  of  one  of  these.  The 
story  goes  that  a  long  time  ago  a  very  poor  graduate 
had  gone  up  to  the  provincial  capital  to  be  examined 
for  his  second  degree.  He  had  painfully  struggled  over 
the  two  hundred  miles  that  lay  between  his  hamlet  and 
the  city  where  his  fortunes  lay.  He  was  a  man  of  a 
brave  heart  and  strong,  robust  constitution,  and  so, 
with  indomitable  perseverance,  he  travelled  over  moun- 
tains and  across  streams  and  wound  his  way  over 
populous  plains  till  at  last  he  had  reached  his 
destination.  'I         ;     L   '  i 

His  finances  by  this  time  had  become  very  low,  but 


LITERARY  DEGREES  69 

he  had  just  enough  to  enable  him  to  scrape  through 
the  nine  days  that  the  examination  lasted.  When  these 
were  over  his  last  cash  had  been  spent  and  he  was 
left  in  the  great  city^,  where  he  did  not  know  a  soul, 
absolutely  penniless.  Chinese  benevolence  to  strangers, 
a  virtue  highly  extolled  in  the  classics,  is  conspicuous 
by  its  absence  in  ordinary  common  life.  The  man  did 
not  dream  of  despairing,  however,  for  he  was  a  plucky, 
determined  fellow,  and,  though  a  man  of  great  ability, 
he  was  not  ashamed  to  put  his  hand  to  any  honest  work, 
no  matter  how  mean  it  might  be.  He  accordingly 
arranged  with  one  of  the  sedan-chair  shops  to  carry 
a  customer  that  was  returning  to  his  own  district. 
Chair-bearers  have  a  distinctly  bad  reputation  every- 
where in  China,  and  consequently  it  showed  the  brave 
and  independent  spirit  of  the  man  that  he  should  be 
willing  to  descend  from  his  position  as  one  of  the  gentry 
to  become,  for  the  time  being,  one  of  this  despised  class. 
The  scholar  had  carried  his  fare  fully  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles,  up  the  sides  of  hills  and  along  the  edges 
of  ravines  and  across  crowded  plains,  his  mind  all  the 
time  full  of  anxious  surmisings  as  to  how  the  examina- 
tions had  turned  out  and  whether  his  own  name  was 
amongst  the  lucky  ones  or  not.  He  had  not  had  funds 
enough  to  allow  him  to  stay  in  the  city  long  enough  to 
wait  for  the  issue  by  the  Examiners  of  the  names  of 
the  men  that  had  passed.  By  this  time  his  shoulders 
were  swollen  and  blistered  with  the  hard  bamboo  poles 
that  had  rested  upon  them  so  long,  and  life  began  to 
wear  a  very  gloomy  aspect  to  him.  He  had  just  come 
to  the  foot  of  a  high  and  steep  hill,  and  as  he  cast  his 
eyes  up  to  it,  it  took  his  breath  away  to  think  that  he 
had  to  climb  that  with  the  weight  of  the  heavy  chair 
pressing  him  to  the  ground.  At  that  moment  he  heard 
behind  him  the  clanging  of  the  gongs  of  the  "  B ringers 
of  good  news,"  who  were  hurrying  along  at  a  rapid 
rate,  calling  out  the  names  of  the  lucky  men  who  had 
succeeded  in  passing  their  examinations.  '*  B ringers 
of  good  news  "  are  a  class  of  men  that  get  their  living 
in  connection  with  the  examinations.  No  sooner  are 
the  names  of  the  successful  candidates  put  out  by  the 
Examiners  than  they  hasten  off  by  forced  marches  to 
distant  homes  and  inform  the  relatives  of  the  honours 


60  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

that  their  friends  have  gained.  They  are  easily  recog- 
nised, for  they  usually  travel  in  companies  of  four,  and 
have  gongs  which  they  now  and  again  strike,  whilst 
they  shout  out  the  names  of  the  men  who  have  gained 
their  degrees. 

As  these  men  drew  nearer,  he  caught  the  sound  of 
his  own  name,  and  as  he  listened  with  anxious,  throb- 
bing heart,  he  heard  them  tell  how  that  not  only  had 
he  passed,  but  that  he  actually  stood  the  first  on  the 
list,  and  that  therefore  he  was  to-day  the  leading 
scholar  in  the  whole  of  the  province.  He  was  overcome 
with  gladness,  for  wealth  and  honours  were  now 
certainly  within  his  grasp,  and  poverty  and  suffering 
were  about  to  vanish  out  of  his  life.  Letting  down 
the  sedan-chair  to  the  ground,  he  said,  "I  shall  carry 
no  more  chairs."  His  fare  reminded  him  of  his  engage- 
ment to  carry  him  to  his  journey's  end.  After  some 
little  demur  he  agreed  to  do  so,  on  the  condition  that 
an  extra  sum  should  be  paid  to  him  for  the  stiff  hill 
he  was  about  to  face.  This  was  agreed  to,  and  the 
man  with  double-first  honours  raised  the  poles  to  his 
blistered  shoulders,  and,  with  a  spring  in  his  tread 
and  a  song  in  his  heart,  he  mounted  the  hill  as  though 
he  had  been  a  common  coolie  and  not  a  scholar  whose 
fame  would  soon  be  ringing  throughout  the  province, 
and  whose  name  would  be  posted  up  in  every  school 
and  in  every  undergraduate's  home,  not  only  throughout 
his  own  province,  but  also  in  every  province  in  the 
empire.  In  memory  of  this  famous  incident,  the  chair- 
bearers  from  that  time  to  this  drop  their  chairs  at  the 
foot  of  this  hill,  and  refuse  to  proceed  any  farther  until 
a  certain  sum  has  been  promised  them,  in  addition 
to   their   stipulated   fare. 

The  third  and  fourth  degrees  were  obtained  in 
Peking.  Those  who  passed  in  these,  and  especially 
in  the  last,  had  an  honourable  career  before  them, 
and  were  capable  of  obtaining  the  most  lucrative  posts 
in  the  empire.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  position 
from  which  the  men  came  originally,  the  fact  that  they 
had  passed  these  examinations  placed  them  at  once 
in  the  forefront  of  the  aristocracy  of  China,  and  the 
man  that  came  out  first  in  the  fourth  would  probably 
become  a,  Viceroy  of  two  provinces,   where  he  would 


LITERARY  DEGREES  61 

have  almost  regal  powers  over  a  population  of  forty 
or  fifty,  millions  of  people. 

But  a  new  spirit  is  flashing  through  the  Empire,  and 
the  blood  that  is  coursing  through  its  veins  no  longer 
travels  to  the  slow  tune  of  the  vanished  centuries.  Like 
Rip  Van  Winkle,  the  long,  deep  sleep  of  the  ages  is 
over.  The  old  scenes  have  passed  away,  and  the  vision 
that  the  eyes  of  the  young  men  and  women  are  gazing 
upon  to-day  will  never  permit  them  to  go  back  to 
the   role   of   the    past. 

The  books  and  themes  that  were  sufficient  for  their 
fathers  have  lost  their  charm.  A  thousand  voices  from 
Western  lands  have  come  with  the  thrilling  melody  of 
a  new  song,  and  their  echoes  are  flying  across  the 
great  plains  and  over  the  loftiest  mountains  and  down 
the  deep  valleys,  and  a  new  conception  of  life  is  awaken- 
ing in  the  souls  of  the  people  such  as  their  greatest 
poets  could  never  sing  to  them.  The  first  notes  of 
the  song  of  the  coming  age  are  just  being  heard,  anjd 
the  dreams  that  had  seemed  to  have  for  ever  died 
in  their  hearts  are  once  more  fashioning  their  wonderful 
imagery  in  them. 

Government  schools  have  been  established  all  over 
the  empire,  and  the  young  lads  are  crowding  into  them. 
The  mystery  of  Western  thought  has  touched  their 
imagination,  whilst  new  continents  that  China  never 
explored  in  the  past  are  now  looming  up  before  their 
astonished  gaze. 

A  new  era  has  indeed  dawned  upon  China.  The 
great  Examination  Halls,  where  often  ten  thousand  men 
sat  for  their  examinations,  stand  solitary  and  forsaken. 
Their  glory  has  departed.  Their  doors  swing  on  their 
hinges  at  the  bidding  of  wandering  winds.  Great 
spiders  spin  their  webs  from  their  ceilings,  and  the 
weird  sounds  that  moan  through  them,  one  can  imagine, 
are  the  sighs  of  the  great  men  that  won  their  fame 
in  them,  and  whose  spirits  are  mourning  over  the 
departed  glories  of  the  empire. 


CHAPTER    V 

THE    CHINESE    CLASSICS 

This  chapter  deals  with  a  subject  that  is  a  most  ancient 
one,  and  yet  it  is  a  thoroughly  modern  one,  for  though 
the  nation  is  beginning  to  turn  its  gaze  to  Western 
lands  and  to  the  future  for  its  ideals,  it  is  an  un- 
doubted fact  that  the  classics  of  China  still  exercise 
a  profound  and  most  dominating  influence  on  both 
learned  and  unlearned  throughout   the  country. 

In  discussing  them,  I  have  endeavoured  to  place 
before  my  readers  the  position  they  occupy  in  the  esti- 
mation of  the  thinkers  and  scholars  of  to-day.  That 
has  hardly  changed  at  all  from  what  it  has  always 
been,  and  so  I  feel  justified  in  using  the  present  tense 
in  describing  their  history  and  teaching. 

These  famous  classics  have  always  been  considered 
to  be  the  sacred  books  of  the  Chinese,  though  not  by 
any  means  in  a  theological  sense.  Some  foreign  writers 
have  even  called  them  the  Bible  of  China,  thoug*h  that 
is  giving  them  an  honour  that  the  Chinese  themselves 
have  never  assigned  to   them. 

They  never  profess  to  give  any  answer  to  some  of 
the  great  problems  that  arise  in  men's  hearts,  neither 
do  they  throw  any  light  whatever  on  the  great  question 
of  the  future.  The  vast  majority  of  the  Chinese  people, 
being  unable  to  read,  never  look  into  their  pages  or 
consult  them  on  moral  questions.  Even  the  scholars 
who  know  every  word  of  them  by  heart  have  not  found 
them  to  meet  the  needs  of  their  spiritual  life.  I  have 
known  large  numbers  of  these,  and  I  have  never  met 
with  any  of  them  who  did  not  have  their  family  idols 
in  their  homes,  which  they  worshipped  just  as  the 
common  and  the  most  illiterate  of  the  people.  They 
are   not   religious    books,    in   our    sense    of   the    term. 


THE  CHINESE  CLASSICS  63 

and  are  not  looked  upon  as  containing  a  divine  revela- 
tion. They  contain  an  ethical  system  that  has  had  a 
tremendous  influence  in  giving  the  Chinese  high  ideals 
of  goodness  and  morality.  It  is  in  consequence  of 
this  that  they  stand  pre-eminent  in  the  estimation  of 
the  people  of  the  Middle  Kingdom. 

Other  books  in  very  large  numbers  abound  in  China, 
dealing  with  a  great  variety  of  subjects,  but  not  one 
amongst  them  has  the  prestige  or  the  authority  of 
the  classics.  These  are  the  books  that  are  held  in 
more  than  royal  honour  by  every  member  of  society  ; 
by  the  farmer  that  follows  the  plough,  and  who  had 
only  a  glimpse  into  them  when  he  was  a  lad  ;  by  the 
coolie  that  earns  his  daily  bread  by  the  severest  toil, 
and  who  could  not  read  a  line  in  them,  were  it  to  save 
his  life,  as  well  as  by  the  most  brilliant  scholar  in  the 
land,  who  has  risen  to  fame  and  honour  by  his  study 
of  them.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  these  books  have 
permeated  the  nation  and  captured  the  mind  and  the 
imagination  of  all  classes,  in  such  a  way  as  never 
has  been  done  hitherto,  excepting,  perhaps,  by  the  Bible, 
in  any  country  outside  of  China.  We  need  not  be 
surprised  at  this,  when  we  consider  what  they  have 
been  to  the  Chinese  people.  For  nearly  twenty 
centuries  they  have  been  the  only  educational  books 
the  nation  has  ever  used.  No  others  have  been  allowed 
to  compete  with  them. 

It  has  been  accepted  as  an  axiomatic  truth  by  genera- 
tion after  generation  that  there  were  no  other  books 
that  had  ever  been  produced  that  were  so  fit  to  become 
the  school  books  of  the  nation  as  these.  More  than 
a  thousand  years  ago,  the  little  Chinese  boys  woke 
up  at  daybreak,  rubbed  their  eyes,  and  caught  sight 
of  the  dim  light  that  was  chasing  the  shadows  out  of 
the  room.  They  must  be  up  at  once,  for  the  school 
doors  are  open,  and  the  teacher  is  waiting  for  them, 
and  the  sunbeams  are  beginning  to  glance  through  the: 
village,  and  to  dart  among  the  trees  and  to  light  up 
with  a  touch  of  gold  the  dreary  walls  of  the  schoolroom. 
The  thought  of  the  master's  face  with  its  stern  frown, 
and  eyes  out  of  which  no  sympathetic  flash  ever  subdued 
the  hard,  severe  look  in  them,  brings  them  with  a  jump 
out  of  bed,  and  in  a  few  minutes  they  are  on  their  way 


64  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

to  the  school.  The  distant  hill -tops  stand  out  brightly 
in  the  light  they  have  caught  from  the  rising  sun,  but 
the  plain  is  still  in  that  dreamy,  undefined  state  that 
has  been  left  by  the  lingering  shadows  of  the  past 
night,  that  seem  loath  to  disappear  before  the  new 
day. 

As  the  lads  hurry  on  to  the  school,  others  emerge 
from  narrow  footpaths,  and  from  under  the  spreading 
banyan  that  is  beginning  to  flash  under  the  touch  of 
the  morning  sunbeams  that  seem  to  be  making  love 
to  it,  and  soon  the  dreary  old  schoolhouse  rings  with 
the  sound  of  a  score  of  voices  raised  to  their  highest 
pitch. 

Now  the  books  put  into  children's  hands  are  the 
classics.  These  are  dry-looking  and  atrociously  printed, 
and  with  not  a  single  picture  to  enliven  the  pages 
throughout  the  whole  range  of  them.  For  the  first 
four  or  five  years'  study  of  them,  the  lads  have  not 
the  remotest  idea  of  what  they  mean,  and  the  teacher 
never  attempts  to  explain  them.  They  are  as  profound 
as  Plato  would  be  to  an  English  lad  were  his  writings 
handed  to  him  in  the  original  Greek,  and  he  were  left 
to  puzzle  out  the  sound  of  the  words  in  which  they 
were    written. 

Now,  the  schoolboys  of  to-day  are  going  through 
precisely  the  same  routine  that  their  predecessors  did 
ten  centuries  ago.  There  has  been  absolutely  no  change 
either  in  the  books  or  in  the  method  in  which  they 
are  studied.  No  school  boards  have  ever  met  and 
decided  that  they  have  become  antiquated,  and  must 
be  supplanted  by  others  more  modern  and  up-to-date. 
No  hint  of  such  a  thing  has  ever  been  breathed  by 
a  living  soul.  To  propound  such  a  heresy  would  set 
the  nation  into  a  frenzy  of  ferment,  and  send  rebellion 
into  the  heart  of  every  student  and  thinker  in  the  land. 

But  it  is  not  simply  in  the  elementary  schools  that 
these  books  have  reigned  suprqme,  undisturbed  by 
educational  boards  or  authorities.  They  still  stand 
alone  without  a  rival  in  the  higher  education  of  the 
country.  The  scholar  is  never  supposed  to  grow  out 
of  them.  There  never  comes  a  time  when,  with  a 
sigh  of  relief,  he  throws  away  the  dog-eared  books 
that   have   caused   him   many   a   heartache,   and   says, 


THE  CHINESE  CLASSICS  65 

**  Now  I  have  finished  with  you  for  ever,  I  am  thankful 
to  say.*'  No,  the  very  same  books  that  he  worried 
over  as  a  lad,  and  that  he  spent  weary  hours  over  as 
a  student,  are  the  very  same  that  by  and  by  he  will  be 
examined  in  when  he  goes  up  for  his  different  degrees. 
It  will  be  his  knowledge,  too,  of  these  identical  books 
that  will  raise  him  to  honour,  and  place  him  on  the 
bench,  and  if  he  is  very  lucky  enthrone  him  in  a 
Viceroy's  palace,  with  a  power  that  is  almost  absolute 
in  the  provinces  over  which  he  may  be  sent  to  rule. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  these  books  are  sacred  to  the 
Chinese.  They  are  not  like  the  primers  and  readers  that 
are  tossed  aside  and  looked  upon  with  a  semi-contempt 
when  the  man  has  been  transformed  into  the  learned 
scholar.  They  will  go  with  him  to  the  very  end  of  life. 
Others  may  be  read  as  a  matter  of  amusement,  but  for 
thought  and  study  and  elevation  of  mind,  and  for  high 
ideals  there  is  no  book  that  in  his  imagination  can  take 
the  place  of  the  classics. 

These  famous  works  consist  of  nine  books,  which  are 
known  by  scholars  by  the  technical  term  of,  "  The  Four 
Books  and  the  Five  Classics,"  and  in  our  description 
of  them,  we  shall  follow  the  order  given  them  by  the 
Chinese.  The  first  in  interest  and  importance  of  the 
Four  Books  is  the  Analects,  or  Table  Talk  of  Confucius. 
It  is  made  up  of  the  wise  and  shrewd  sayings  of  this 
distinguished  sage,  which  were  collected  by  his  disciples 
after  his  death.  As  might  have  been  expected  from 
its  very  title,  this  book  deals  with  a  great  variety  of 
subjects,  many  of  which  are  introduced  by  inquiring 
disciples  who  are  either  anxious  to  have  their  minds 
enlightened  about  certain  abstruse  subjects  concerning 
which  they  are  perplexed,  or  who  wish  to  have  the 
sage's  opinions  regarding  some  well-known  individuals 
who  were  prominent  in  society  at  that  time. 

It  is  in  these  conversations  that  Confucius  laid  down 
principles  that  not  only  showed  the  greatness  of  his  own 
mind,  but  which  also  have  so  appealed  to  the  countless 
generations  of  Chinese,  that  they  have  served  to  mould 
the  national  thought,  and  to  give  the  nation  the  lofty 
ideals  that  to-day  are  held  by  all  classes  of  people.  The 
whole  of  his  teachings  may  be  said  to  be  condensed 
into  about  half  a  dozen  pages  or  so,  that  contained  the 

5 


i 

66  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA  | 

germ  thoughts  of  his  system.     Around  these  cluster  as  j 

their   outgrowth   the   ideals   and   purposes   and   springs  j 

of  noble  action  of  the  whole  Chinese  race,  for  it  is  to  \ 

my   mind   an    undoubted   fact   that    the   excellences    or  \ 

defects   of   the   moral,   social,   or   political   condition   of  \ 

the   Chinese  of  to-day  may,   in  a  very   large  measure,  | 

be  traced  back  to  this  sage  and  semi-divine  hero  of  the  i 

past.      An  examination  of  a  few  of  these   words   will  j 

prove,  I  believe,  the  truth  of  this  statement.     And  the  \ 

first  that   I   shall  select  is  the  word   "  Heaven."      For  i 

some  reason  or  other,  Confucius  was  shy  of  using  the  \ 

word  "  God,"  which  the  older  sages  who  preceded  him  j 

were  fond  of  employing.     The  word  "  Heaven  "  had  a  \ 

fascination  for  him,  though  from  his  own  sayings,  it  is  | 

manifest  that  he  never  entirely  broke  away  from  some  ! 

of  the  great  thoughts  associated  with  God.     No  doubt  j 

the    idea    of    his    personality    suffered    a    considerable  { 

eclipse,  though  he  transferred  to  his  new  term  some  of  \ 

the  great  attributes  that  belonged  to  God.     Heaven  was  j 

always  more  to  him  than  a  merely  material  force,  that  \ 

knew  nothing  of  the   joys   and  struggles   of  mankind,  j 

He  ever  felt  that  he  was  under  the  constant  supervision  I 

of  Heaven,   and  he  was  content,   though  men  ignored  1 

him  and  his  teaching,  if  he  were  approved  of  by  it.  \ 

On  one  occasion,  when  cast  down  by  the  thought  that  \ 

his   lifework   had  not   been  a  success,   he  said  to   one  j 

of  his   disciples,   *'  No  one  understands   me."      **  What  | 

do  you  mean  by  saying  that  no  one  understands  you?  "  | 

was  the  prompt  reply.     Still  with  his  thoughts  oppressed  j 

with    the    sense    of    failure,    he    replied,    but    rather    to  j 

himself  than  to  the  question  of  his  follower,   **  I   have  \ 

no  grievance  against  Heaven, ^   and  I   have  no  fault  to  \ 

find  with  men.     My  studies  lie  amongst  common  things,  j 

but    my    thoughts    rise    high,    and   my   comfort    is    that  \ 

Heaven  understands  me."      Heaven  to  him,   moreover,  | 

was   the   Great   Power  that   reigned   in   the   domain   of  1 

morals,  and  to  come  under  its  displeasure  was  to  put  j 

man  in  a  most  sorry  condition,  as  there  was  no  appeal  j 

against  its   decision.      He  has   declared  in   a   sentence  | 

that  has  imbedded  itself  in  the  life  and  thought  of  the  \ 

Chinese,  that  when  a  man  sins  against   Heaven  there  | 

^  The  word  "  Heaven  "  in  Chinese  is  composed  of  two  words  which  | 

mean  "great"  and  "one."    Heaven,  then,  is  the  Great  One.  ' 

i 
I 


THE   CHINESE  CLASSICS  67 

is  none  in  the  wide  universe  to  whom  he  can  appeal 
beside. 

The  dropping  of  God  was  most  unfortunate,  and  has 
had  wider  consequences  than  he  ever  dreamed  of  at 
the  time.  The  results  have  been  most  disastrous  from 
a  rehgious  point  of  view.  The  knowledge  of  God  has 
almost  entirely  disappeared  from  amongst  the  people, 
and  Heaven,  impersonal  and  undefined,  has  usurped  his 
place.  It  is  quite  true  that  certain  attributes  that  can 
only  belong  to  God  are  ascribed  to  it.  Life  and  death, 
disaster  and  happiness,  princely  rank  and  the  beggar's 
lot  are  all  apportioned  out  by  it.  Men  may  scheme 
and  devise  and  plot,  but  whether  they  shall  succeed  or 
be  thwarted  lies  with  Heaven  to  decide.  In  spite  of 
this  belief,  however,  Heaven  is  only  the  great  vast  dome 
above,  which  rights  wrong,  it  may  be,  but  which  never 
sheds  a  tear  and  never  feels  a  throb  of  pity  for  human 
sorrow  and  disaster.  There  is  no  question  but  that 
Confucius,  by  his  frequent  use  of  the  word  Heaven, 
which  he  never  attempted  to  define,  as  well  as  by  his 
advice  to  his  disciples  to  be  very  chary  of  having  any- 
thing to  do  with  spiritual  beings,  has  been  the  means 
of  leading  the  scholars  and  thinkers  of  China  to  be 
largely  atheistic  in  their  discussion  of  religious 
questions. 

Another  conspicuous  word  in  the  writings  of  Con- 
fucius is  the  one  that  means  *'  filial  piety."'  It  would 
be  quite  impossible  for  any  one  who  has  not  been 
brought  up  in  China  to  comprehend  how  this  great 
virtue  has  saturated  Chinese  society  through  the  teach- 
ing of  this  famous  sage.  If  one  were  to  ask  what 
special  feature  there  was  that  marked  Chinese  life,  and 
what  duty  there  was  that  was  most  severely  demanded 
from  the  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor  alike,  one  could 
unhesitatingly  answer  that  it  was  the  honour  that  is 
ungrudgingly  given  to  parents  by  their  children. 

In  travelling  along  the  great  thoroughfares  of  China, 
one  is  continually  coming  upon  magnificent  arches,  cost- 
ing hundreds  of  dollars,  that  have  been  erected  in 
honour  of  some  son  in  the  neighbourhood  who  had  been 
distinguished  for  his  reverence  for  his  parents.  No 
virtue  is  more  highly  esteemed,  and  no  failure  in  any 
duty  is  more  severely  condemned  than  any  shortcoming 


68  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

in  this.  Confucius  did  a  splendid  work  when,  in  his 
conception  of  the  home,  he  laid  down  the  principle 
that  reverence  for  parents  was  absolutely  essential  not 
only  for  its  own  stability  but  also  for  that  of  the 
empire.  The  Chinese  nation  has  accepted  this  thought 
as  though  it  were  a  divine  revelation. 

Another  conception  of  Confucius  was  a  stroke  of 
genius  when,  in  a  moment  of  inspiration,  he  drew  the 
picture  of  the  ideal  man,  whom  he  distinguishes  by  the 
name  of  "  The  Son  of  a  king."  This  man  is  a  person 
of  lofty  principles,  that  dominate  and  regulate  his  life. 
He  never  acts  against  the  law  of  love,i  not  even  in 
moments  of  confusion  and  danger.  He  never  does 
a  mean  or  ignoble  action,  for  the  atmosphere  in  which 
he  dwells  is  goodness. 

The  figure  of  this  ideal  man  is  rendered  all  the  more 
striking  by  the  picture  that  is  given  of  another,  who  is 
called  "  The  mean  man."  This  latter  is  the  very  re- 
verse in  conduct  and  aim  to  the  Son  of  a  king,  and  acts 
as  the  shadow  in  the  background  to  set  forth  his  virtues 
and  perfections.  This  noble  conception  has  done  royal 
service  to  the  nation  by  the  exquisite  picture  it  has 
given  of  the  exalted  life  that  every  man  should  strive 
to  lead.  The  students  of  every  age,  in  the  mastering 
of  the  classics,  have  been  compelled  to  study  this  ideal 
minutely  and  to  scan  every  lineament  of  his  features, 
so  that  his  portrait  has  been  stereotyped  upon  the  brain 
and  thought  of  the  nation.  The  successive  generations 
of  men  have  no  doubt  fallen  far  below  the  ideal  that 
the  Son  of  a  king  represents,  but  it  is  quite  safe  to 
say  that  the  nation  would  have  descended  still  lower  had 
there  been  no  such  picture,  drawn  by  the  hand  of  genius, 
to  supply,  in  however  small  a  measure,  the  loss  that  the 
nation  had  suffered  by  the  serious  eclipse  of  God  from 
its  thought. 

There  are  two  other  words  that  had  a  magnetic 
attraction  for  Confucius,  and  around  which  he  threw 
the  halo  of  a  master  mind.  The  first  of  these  was 
"  Loyalty."  And  the  Chinese  have  caught  the  inspiration 
of  the  word,  and  often  has  it  stirred  the  sluggish  surface 
of  the  nation's  heart,  and  liberated  the  fires  that  were 
slumbering   and  smouldering   below.      What   romances 

'  See  Analects  Book  4,  chap.  5. 


THE  CHINESE  CLASSICS  80 

in  real  life  have  there  not  been  because  of  the 
chivalrous  ideas  that  it  has  started  into  life  1  Men  have 
stood  before  the  foe  with  a  thousand  odds  against  them 
and  never  flinched  nor  thought  of  fight.  Many  a  soldier 
has  stood  behind  the  walls  of  a  beleaguered  fort,  and 
at  the  bidding  of  this  magic  word  that  could  conjure 
up  such  heroic  thoughts,  he  has  borne  the  stress  of  fierce 
assault  and  slow,  lingering  starvation,  rather  than  sur- 
render. One  man  in  ancient  times  gave  his  life  for  an 
expiring  dynasty,  and  succeeding  ages,  stirred  by  the 
story  of  his  heroism,  made  him  a  god,  and  to-day  he 
is  worshipped  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land,  because  he  was  loyal  to  his  sovereign. 

The  next  word  that  had  a  fascination  for  Confucius 
was  "  Sincerity,"  a  very  beautiful  one,  but  hardly  such 
as  one  might  have  expected  to  be  occupying  such  a 
lofty  position  in  the  ethics  of  the  nation.  That  the 
Chinese  look  upon  it  with  profound  respect  is  undoubted. 
Whenever  I  have  h^ad  occasion  to  appeal  to  it,  when 
some  question  of  truthfulness  was  at  stake,  the  effect 
was  instantaneous.  The  eyes  sparkled  as  if  a  sudden 
light  had  flashed  into  them,  and  the  hard  look  on  the 
face  softened  down.  The  mystic  influence  of  a  thought 
uttered  more  than  twenty  centuries  ago  by  the  great 
sage  touched  something  in  the  heart  that  vibrated  at 
once  to  the  spell  that  was  laid  upon  it.  Confucius 
declares  that  he  does  not  understand  how  any  man 
who  is  untruthful  can  exist.  It  is  a  supreme  mystery 
to  him.  He  also  lays  down  the  great  doctrine  that 
sincerity  is  the  royal  way  by  which  Heaven  itself  con- 
tinually travels,  and  that  no  man's  nature  can  be  fully 
developed  that  is  deficient  in  this  virtue.  As  the  sage 
continues  to  discuss  the  question  he  seems  to  rise  in  his 
conception  of  the  man  who  is  controlled  by  sincerity, 
for  he  finally  asserts  that  he  becomes  the  very  equal 
of  Heaven  and  indeed  is  himself  a  god. 

The  second  of  the  Four  Books  is  called  *'  The  Great 
Learning,"  and  deals  with  the  cultivation  of  the 
individual,  the  proper  management  of  a  family,  the 
government  of  a  feudal  State  and  the  ruling  of  an 
empire.  The  purpose  of  the  book  is  thus  expressed 
in  its  opening  chapter  :  i     *'  The  men  of  ancient  times, 

'  See  Analects,  chap.  2,  sec.  22,  Doctrine  of  the  Mean,  20,  18, 22, 31, 3, 


70  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

who  wished  that  virtue  should  prevail  throughout  the 
nation,  first  saw  to  the  proper  regulation  of  their  own 
States.  Planning  the  proper  regulation  of  their 
own  States,  they  first  controlled  their  own  families. 
Desiring  to  control  their  own  families,  they  first  attended 
to  the  purification  of  their  own  hearts.  Aiming  at 
purifying  their  own  hearts,  they  first  sought  to  be 
sincere.  Wishing  to  be  sincere,  they  enlarged  their 
knowledge.  Desiring  to  enlarge  their  knowledge,  they 
examined  into  the  nature  of  things."  It  is  then  shown 
that  any  man  who  has  gone  persistently  and  honestly 
through  these  various  processes  must  in  the  end  come 
out  a  successful  ruler,  not  only  of  his  own  small 
kingdom,  his  home,  but  also  of  the  larger  one  that  lies 
outside  of  it.  The  subsequent  chapters  of  this  book 
mainly  consist  of  the  wise  and  pithy  sayings  of  kings 
and  famous  men,  in  order  to  enforce  the  teachings  laid 
down  in  the  above  quotation. 

The  third  of  the  Four  Books  is  termed  "  The  Doctrine 
of  the  Mean,"  and  was  composed,  it  is  believed,  by  a 
grandson  of  Confucius.  It  is  a  most  elaborate  and 
abstruse  work,  and  its  great  object  is  to  discuss  the 
nature  of  virtue,  as  exemplified  in  the  person  of  the 
ideal  man,  the  Son  of  a  king. 

The  fourth  and  last  of  the  Four  Books  consists  of 
the  writings  of  Mencius  ^  and  deals  very  largely  with 
the  question  as  to  how  rulers  may  best  govern  their 
people  in  accordance  with  justice  and  righteousness. 
Mencius,  in  common  with  Confucius,  was  no  believer 
in  the  divine  rights  of  kings,  for  he  held  that  a  bad 
monarch  might  be  deprived  of  his  throne,  that  his  power 
might  be  given  to  a  virtuous  one.  The  virtues  of  love 
and  righteousness  had  a  special  attraction  for  Mencius, 
and  are  often  referred  to  in  his  works.  He  was  also 
fond  of  discussing  the  subject  of  human  nature,  holding 
the  Confucian  theory  that  it  was  naturally  good.  He 
held  that  man  was  born  for  uprightness,  and  he  en- 
deavoured to  prove  this  from  the  fact  that  four  moral 
qualities  at  least  are  found  existing  in  all  men  :  firstly, 
pity,  which  springs  from  its  root  in  righteousness  ; 
secondly,  benevolence,  which  has  its  root  in  righteous- 
ness ;  thirdly,  a  reverential  spirit,  which  springs  from  an 

*  This  famous  philosopher  was  born  B.C.  372  and  died  B.C.  289. 


THE  CHINESE  CLASSICS  71 

inherent  sense  of  propriety  ;  and  fourthly,  a  perception 
of  right  and  wrong,  which  is  the  outgrowth  of  an  inborn 
discernment  that  guides  men  into  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil.  Mencius  held  that  if  men  would  only 
allow  these  natural  powers  free  play  for  their  develop- 
ment, the  result  would  be  universal  goodness.  The 
ideal  man,  the  Son  of  a  king,  as  pictured  by  Confucius, 
had  a  charm  for  Mencius,  who  has  had  the  honour  of 
associating  with  him  the  '*  Five  Eternal  Virtues,"  viz.. 
Love,  Righteousness,  Courtesy,  Common  Sense,  and 
Sincerity.  These  have  passed  into  a  proverb  which  is 
being  continually  quoted  by  all  classes  of  people,  when 
any  question  of  right  or  wrong  is  in  dispute. 

Of  the  five  classics,  the  first  in  order  is  the  Yih 
King  or  **  Book  of  Changes."  This  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  of  the  classics,  due  partly  no  doubt  to  its 
intensely  abstruse  character,  for  the  mystic  lines  and 
combination  of  lines  which  form  the  basis  and  argu- 
ment of  the  book  are  supposed  to  contain  within  them 
all  the  mysteries  of  cosmogony,  philosophy,  geomancy, 
and  other  occult  arts  that  perplex  the  most  profound 
thinkers  and  the  most  erudite  scholars. 

This  work  has  served  the  Chinese,  for  at  least  three 
thousand  years,  as  a  foundati'on  for  the  system  of 
philosophical  divination  and  geomancy  which  has  such 
an  overpowering  attraction  for  the  thinkers  of  the 
country.  Its  mysterious  symbols  and  diagrams  have, 
however,  been  used  for  meaner  purposes  than  the  above, 
for  the  fortune-tellers  on  the  street,  that  tell  men  so 
glibly  of  the  good  or  bad  fortune  awaiting  them  in  the 
future,  base  their  calculations  very  largely  upon  the 
combinations  of  lines  that  seem  so  utterly  meaningless 
and  absurd  to  the  Western  mind. 

The  second  classic  is  called  "  The  Book  of  History." 
The  foundation  of  this  book  was  ancient  documents  that 
told  the  history  of  China  from  the  Great  Yau  down  to 
the  Chow  dynasty,  B.C.  2357-627.  Many  of  these 
old  manuscripts  perished  during  the  lapse  of  time,  but 
those  that  survived  were  collected  hy  Confucius  and 
edited  by  him.  Of  the  eighty-one  documents  that  came 
into  his  possession,  only  forty-eight  are  extant  at  the 
present  day.  It  may  be  remarked  that  they  are  the  only 
existing  sources  of  information  that  the  historian  can 


72  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODEKN  CHINA 

refer  to  when  he  wishes  to  describe  the  doings  of 
those  ancient  times. 

The  third  classic  is  named  **  The  Book  of  Poetry." 
Its  influence  on  the  national  mind  has  been  very  great. 
The  songs  or  odes  of  which  this  work  is  composed  were 
no  doubt  ancient  ballads,  that,  Homeric -like,  were 
handed  down  by  tradition  from  one  age  to  another. 
They  seem  to  have  been  collected  by  Prince  Wun  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Chow  dynasty,  B.C.  1120,  and  to 
have  been  set  to  music.  What  we  possess  now  is  but 
a  fragment  of  those  that  were  originally  in  existence. 
These  poetical  relics  are  arranged  under  various  heads, 
such  as  national  odes,  sacrificial  odes,  and  greater  and 
lesser  eulogiums.  They  never  rise  to  anything  like 
sublimity.  Some  of  them  are  quaint,  others  wanting  in 
the  true  poetic  ring,  and  all  of  them  deficient  in  that 
force  and  passion  that  would  stir  men  to  heroic  deeds 
or  to  noble  lives. 

The  fourth  classic  is  called  *'  The  Record  of  Rites," 
a  book  that  is  dear  to  the  heart  of  a  Chinese,  for 
it  fully  accords  with  the  bent  and  genius  of  his  mind. 
It  is  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Confucius.  It 
contains  minute  rules  of  behaviour  for  every  degree 
and  every  condition  in  society.  How  men  should 
conduct  themselves  and  what  should  be  their  deport- 
ment in  critical  cases  so  that  they  should  not  lose 
caste  by  any  breach  of  the  laws  of  etiquette  are  all 
stated  with  a  minuteness  that  even  the  most  obtuse 
could  never  misunderstand. 

In  this  "  Guide  to  Polite  Society  "  the  sage  failed 
to  include  the  fair  sex.  If  he  had  lived  in  modern 
times  he  might  have  discovered  that  he  had  many  things 
to  learn  that  might  have  given  him  a  broader  outlook 
on  everyday  common  life  than  his  philosophy  had  ever 
taught  him. 

The  fifth  classic  is  called  "  The  Spring  and  Autumn 
Annals,"  and  has  been  acqepted  as  the  production  of 
Confucius.  His  aim  in  this  work  was  to  continue  the 
narrative  contained  in  "  The  Record  of  History," 
for  a  further  period  of  242  years,  viz.,  from 
B.C.  722  to  B.C.  480.  It  is  a  most  distres- 
singly disappointing  book,  for  it  has  not  the  least 
pretensions  to  literary  ability.     The  story  of  the  virtues 


THE  CHINESE  CLASSICS  73 

and  vices  of  certain  kings  is  told  without  emotion  and 
without  passion  of  any  kind.  A  railway  porter's 
memoranda  of  the  arrival  and  departure  of  certain 
trains  have  quite  as  much  enthusiasm  as  these  records 
of  men  that  lived  in  the  ancient  past.  The  merest 
outline  of  events  is  given,  and  the  author  leaves  the 
reader  to  fill  up  the  details  according  to  his  own 
imagination.  The  fact  that  the  book  has  survived  at 
all  is  simply  because  of  the  great  name  of  its  author. 
Had  any  other  less  distinguished  writer  produced  it, 
it  would  have  been  scornfully  consigned  to  the  butter- 
man  ages  ago. 

Besides  these  nine  books  that  are  universally  received 
as  the  classics,  there  is  still  another  one  written  by 
Confucius,  called  *'  Laws  of  Filial  Piety,"  which  is  con- 
sidered worthy  of  standing  side  by  side  with  the  above. 
It  contains  conversations  carried  on  between  Confucius 
and  one  of  his  disciples  with  regard  to  the  nature 
and  origin  of  filial  piety,  and  the  various  ways  in  which 
this  virtue  can  be  carried  out  in  ordinary  life.  Many 
famous  commentators  have  discussed  this  book,  and 
though  the  scholars  of  China  have  not  looked  upon  it 
with  the  same  favour  that  they  have  on  their  nine  sacred 
books,  yet  because  of  its  author  and  because  of  the 
strong  instinct  of  the  Chinese  in  favour  of  filial  piety, 
they  have  been  willing  to  accord  it  a  place  amongst 
the  classics  of  the  country. 

The  Western  student  is  apt  to  be  extremely  dis- 
appointed when  he  first  reads  these  books.  His  logical 
mind  looks  with  a  semi-contempt  upon  the  unmethodical 
and  scrappy  way  m  which  most  of  the  subjects  have 
been  treated.  The  principles  of  political  economy,  for 
example,  instead  of  being  discussed  in  a  profound  and 
logical  fashion,  are  thrown  off  in  a  free  and  easy  style, 
during  apparently  casual  and  accidental  conversations. 
The  ancient  history  of  this  old-world  empire  is  treated 
without  the  exercise  of  the  critical  faculty.  Facts  of 
the  most  vital  importance  are  recorded  without  any 
attempt  to  verify  them,  very  much  in  the  spirit  that  a 
man  would  jot  down  statements  in  his  note-book,  with 
the  intention  of  enlarging  and  polishing  them  up 
afterwards.  Even  when  morality  is  being  taught,  there 
is  an  absolute  want  of  system,  and  the  finest  thoughts 


74  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

are  expressed  in  epigrammatic  sentences  and  in  loose, 
unconnected  statements  that  lose  a  great  deal  of  their 
force   because   of  their  want   of  logical  sequence. 

To  the  casual  reader  or  thinker  the  above  facts  may 
seem  alarming,  and  he  will  naturally  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  Chinese  classics  are  not  worthy  of  the 
high  position  that  they  have  long  held  amongst  the 
people  of  this  empire.  To  do  this  would  be  a  profound 
mistake. 

The  Oriental  mind  differs  essentially  from  that  of 
the  West.  The  latter  delights  in  logic,  and  syllogisms, 
and  propositions  carefully  reasoned  out,  with  every  step 
linked  together  in  such  a  way  that  the  gradual  evolu- 
tion of  the  argument  can  be  distinctly  traced.  The 
Eastern  mind  disdains  any  such  method  as  too  slow 
and  inartistic.  It  revels  in  poetry,  and  in  airy  flights 
of  imagination,  and  in  delicate  touches  of  thought  that 
raise,  as  by  an  enchanter's  wand,  a  vision  of  what  no 
merely  pure  reasoning  would  ever  suggest.  The  classics 
portray  the  mind  of  the  East,  and  in  the  methods 
employed  to  convey  the  highest  and  the  profoundest 
wisdom  that  their  great  sages  had  to  teach,  we  realise 
that  they  went  the  only  way  in  which  the  nation  could 
be  taught. 

That  the  Chinese  race  has  been  marvellously  touched 
and  inspired  by  these  famous  books  is  certainly  true, 
and  it  is  all  the  more  marvellous  because  the  subjects 
discussed  are  not  those  that  usually  appeal  to  the 
passions  and  prejudices  of  a  heathen  people.  The 
Homeric  ballads,  for  example,  roused  the  intensest 
enthusiasm  amongst  the  people  of  Greece,  because  they 
told  of  feats  of  arms  and  deeds  of  daring  done  by 
famous  warriors,  that  appealed  to  the  fighting  instincts 
of  the  nation,  and  kindled  the  war  spirit  and  set  the 
blood  of  the  younger  men  on  fire.  Not  one  single 
element  of  this  kind  exists  in  the  classics.  Their  ideals 
are  righteousness,  and  loyalty,  and  love,  and  nobility 
of  character.  The  Chinese  never  had  a  divine  revelation 
to  teach  them  how  they  were  to  live  and  die.  The 
classics  in  a  human,  shadowy  way,  and  without  knowing 
it,  are  an  attempt  to  supply  the  sad  deficiency.  The 
son  of  a  king  is  a  noble  conception,  caught  in  some 
supreme   moment    of   inspiration.      The    nation,    struck 


THE  CHINESE  CLASSICS  76 

by  the  beauty  of  the  picture,  has  accepted  it  as  though 
it  had  been  a  divine  vision,  and  in  all  the  literature  of 
the  past  ages  no  other  writer  has  ever  had  the  genius 
to  devise  a  fairer  one  than  this. 

But  these  great  classics  that  for  many  long  centuries 
have  moulded  the  character  of  the  Chinese  people  are 
beginning  to  tremble  on  the  throne  on  which  they 
have  sat  so  long.  Their  supremacy  is  being  questioned 
by  the  new  dream  that  has  come  into  the  brain  of  China. 
A  new  Power  has  appeared,  and  a  Divine  Teacher  that 
will  lead  this  mighty  race  into  a  nobler  conception 
of  even  the  very  virtues  that  the  sages  but  dimly 
grasped.  The  great  books  will  slowly  vanish,  but  the 
people  will  see  a  larger  vision  that  will  not  isolate 
them  from  the  vast  world  outside,  but  will  bring  them 
into  a  loving  brotherhood  with  men  of  every  clime. 


CHAPTER     VI 

SCHOOLS  AND  SCHOOLMASTERS 

The  Chinese  have  a  profound  faith  in  education. 
High  and  low  and  rich  and  poor  are  absolutely  of  one 
mind  on  this  point,  and  if  a  boy  is  not  sent  to  school, 
it  is  either  because  the  parents  are  too  poor,  or  because 
they  have  not  sufficient  authority  over  him  to  compel 
him  to  study.  One  need  not  be  surprised  at  this  una- 
nimity of  opinion,  for  education  is  the  royal  road  to  the 
honours  and  emoluments  that  the  State  has  to  bestow, 
and  it  is  by  means  of  it  that  the  wildest  ambition  that 
ever  ran  riot  through  a  young  man's  brain  can  ulti- 
mately be  satisfied.  In  the  West  there  are  many  ways 
by  which  a  man  may  rise  to  eminence,  and  finally 
occupy  a  prominent  position  as  a  Member  of  Parlia- 
ment, or  as  holding  some  office  under  Government  that 
will  bring  him  before  the  notice  of  the  public.  In 
China  they  are  all  narrowed  down  to  one,  and  it  is  the 
one  that  leads  from  the  schoolhouse. 

It  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  because  a  person  has 
never  been  to  school  therefore  every  chance  in  his 
favour  of  rising  in  life  is  placed  beyond  his  reach. 
Every  avenue  is  opened  to  him  but  one,  and  that  one 
most  coveted  by  every  man  in  the  empire.  A  man 
of  no  education,  for  example,  may  enter  into  business, 
and  everything  he  touches  may  turn  into  gold.  He 
may  buy  houses  and  lands  and  become  famous  for  his 
wealth,  and  his  reputation  as  a  millionaire  may  extend 
beyond  the  limits  of  his  own  country  ;  but  after  all 
he  continues  to  be  only  a  tradesman,  and  he  may 
never  step  within  the  charmed  circle  of  the  aristocracy, 
or  be  addressed  by  a  title  that  is  given  to  the  poorest 
scholar  in  the  land. 

The   graduate,   on   the   other  hand,   though  he   may 

76 


SCHOOLS  AND  SCHOOLMASTERS  77 

be  as  poor  as  the  proverbial  church  mouse,  and  though 
his  father  may  be  a  labouring  man,  and  he  himself 
may  be  a  person  of  such  poor  abilities  that  he  can 
hardly  earn  enough  to  keep  body  and  soul  together, 
can  hold  his  head  higher  in  the  estimation  of  the 
public  than  the  merchant  who  is  rolling  in  wealth. 
It  may  be  confidently  asserted  that  every  schoolboy 
carries  in  his  satchel  a  possible  viceroyship  when  he 
will  be  the  ruler  of  two  provinces,  perhaps,  and  where, 
untrammelled  by  parliaments,  he  may  rule  over  twenty 
or  thirty  millions  of  people  with  a  power  that  is  not 
often   questioned  even  by  his   sovereign. 

Is  it  any  wonder  then  that  the  land  has  been  covered 
with  schools,  and  that  without  any  enactment  of  the 
Government,  or  any  aid  from  the  State,  these  have  been 
found  not  only  in  the  crowded  cities  where  the  popula- 
tion is  dense,  but  also  in  every  village  that  is  not  too 
poor  to  pay  the  salary  of  the  teacher?  The  people 
have  been  so  accustomed  for  ages  to  make  their  own 
educational  arrangements  that  there  is  not  the  slightest 
danger  of  their  falling  through  or  being  neglected.  As 
there  is  no  government  education  board  to  see  that  the 
education  of  the  children  of  the  country  is  provided 
for,  the  elders  or  leading  men  of  a  village  or  of  a 
particular  district  in  a  city  have  met  together,  towards 
the  close  of  the  year,  to  discuss  the  question  of  next 
year's  school.  They  have  also  to  canvass  the  parents 
and  find  out  how  many  boys  are  likely  to  attend  it,  and 
how  much  they  will  be  able  to  pay  during  the  year  in 
order  to  secure  a  sufficient  sum  to  induce  a  com- 
petent teacher  to  accept  their  invitation  to  take  charge 
of  it.  These  points  having  been  ascertained,  the  next 
step  was  to  look  out  for  a  schoolmaster.  This  was  the 
most  difiicult  part  of  the  whole  proceeding  and  one 
that  was  attended  with  the  most  serious  consequences, 
both  to  the  scholars  and  to  the  members  of  the  com- 
munity. It  might  happen  that  the  village  or  the  locality 
might  be  able  to  supply  the  man,  and  if  his  character  . 
had  been  sufficiently  tested  to  permit  of  his  being 
engaged,  everything  would  run  smoothly  during  his  year 
of  office.  Should  no  such  person  be  available,  inquiries 
had  to  be  made  in  other  places,  where  teachers  were 
known  to  exist,  and  after  endless  talk  and  recommenda- 


78  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

tions    and    secret    investigations    into    the    moral    and 
literary    qualifications    of    a    certain    scholar,    he    was 
engaged  for  the  vacant  office.    When  once  that  had  been 
done,   the   thing   was   settled   for   a   year,    beyond   the 
power   of   any   one,   excepting   the   teacher  himself,   to 
break  the  engagement.      The  laws   of  the  Medes   and 
Persians  were  vacillating  compared  with  laws  in  exist- 
ence in  China  ;    should  any  attempt  be  made  to  get  rid 
of  a  teacher  when  once  the  agreement  has  been  made, 
it    would    make    the    shade    of    Confucius    shudder    in 
dismay.     And  now  we  will  suppose  that  the  school  year 
was    just    beginning.      It    was    the    seventeenth   of    the 
first  moon,   about   the  middle   of  our  February.      The 
winter    holidays    were   just    over.      The    festivities    and 
gaieties  that  had  ushered  in  the  new  year  had  ended 
and  the  nation  was  beginning  to  plan  for  the  serious 
work    of   the    coming   year.      The    Feast   of    Lanterns, 
that   only  two   days   ago   filled  everybody   with   excite- 
ment,   and   illumined   the   homes    and   the   streets   with 
lanterns  of  every  possible  description  and  device,  had 
become   a  thing   of  the   past.      Trade,   commerce,   and 
education   that   had   been  laid  aside  in  honour   of  the 
new  year  had  once  more  to  be  taken  up  by  the  people. 
In  anticipation  of  the  opening  of  the  scholastic  year, 
the   elders   of  the  village  had  made   all   arrangements 
for  the  reception  of  the   scholars.      Let   us   enter  and 
see  what  kind  of  a  provision  China  has  made  for  its 
future  scholars,  and  high  mandarins,  and  famous  vice- 
roys who  are  to  be  the  rulers   of  the  country  in  the 
coming  years,  for  in  this  building  we  have  a  fair  sample 
of  every  other  schoolhouse  in  the  empire.     The  Chinese 
do   not   believe   in   new-fangled   notions,    and   to    have 
anything  but   one   style   of  schoolhouse  would  conflict 
with   the   national   ideas   of   the   fitness   of   things.      It 
contains  but  one  room  and  this  is  bare  and  unattractive 
in   the   extreme  ;     there   is   not   one   single   element   of 
comfort  about  it.     The  floor  is  an  earthen  one,  unswept 
and    untidy-looking,    with    miniature    hills    and    valleys 
spread  over  its   surface,  made  by  the  restless  feet   of 
the  lads  who  studied  here  last  year.     The  walls,  instead 
of  being  adorned  with  maps  and  scrolls,  are  absolutely 
black   with    grime   and   dirt.      The   only   pictures    that 
can  be  seen  upon  them  are  the  huge  splashes  of  ink 


SCHOOLS  AND  SCHOOLMASTERS  79 

that  have  been  flirted  there  by  the  incipient  artists  of 
the  future.  No  attempt  of  any  kind  has  been  made  to 
do  away  with  the  accumulated  dust  that  lies  thickly 
upon  them,  nor  to  disturb  the  spiders  which  com- 
placently weave  their  webs  in  the  corners,  quite  confi- 
dent that  they  will  never  be  disturbed  any  day  during 
the   year. 

It  had  never  entered  into  the  thought  of  any  one  that 
the  place  would  look  more  pleasant  for  a  little  white- 
washing and  that  the  boys  would  begin  their  studies 
with  more  hopeful  hearts  if  the  room  could  only  be 
made  to  look  a  little  more  cheerful.  The  civilisation 
of  China  has  never  yet  introduced  such  aesthetic 
thoughts  into  the  school-life  of  its  children,  and  the 
hand  of  woman  with  its  gracious  touch  awaits  a  further 
development  in  national  sentiment  before  it  will  be 
permitted  to  soften  down  the  terribly  Spartan  look 
of  the  rooms  where  the  youth  of  this  land  spend  the 
early  years  of  their  young  lives. 

There  are  only  two  windows  in  the  room,  common, 
rough-looking  ones,  2^  feet  in  height  by  2  feet  in 
breadth,  with  upright  slender  wooden  bars  in  the  centre 
to  keep  the  thieves  out  and  let  the  light  in.  Through 
these  the  summer  breezes  play,  and  the  winter  storms, 
in  dull  and  mournful  tones,  speak  of  the  passion  that 
is  rending  their  hearts.  The  one  compensation  for 
this  miserable,  forlorn-looking  place  is  the  view  that 
one  catches  through  the  open  door,  and  in  a  less  degree 
through  the  narrow  windows.  A  huge  banyan-tree, 
with  its  magnificent  boughs  and  countless  branches, 
and  its  forest  of  unfading  deep-green  leaves,  that  stands 
a  few  score  of  yards  away,  is  a  vision  that  makes  one 
forget  the  dingy  room,  with  its  blackened  walls  and 
uneven  mud  floors  and  its  atmosphere  of  grime  and 
dust.  It  oug^ht  to  be  a  perpetual  source  of  pleasure 
to  the  lads  who  have  to  spend  the  best  of  the  year 
here,  for  it  seems  so  very  human  in  its  varying  moods 
and  changes.  At  one  time  it  seems  cheery  and  light- 
hearted,  as  the  great  sun  floods  it  with  a  blaze  of  sun- 
light. At  another  it  is  sombre  and  dispirited  as  the 
shadows  flit  over  it  and  take  the  brightness  out  of 
its  leaves  and  the  merry  twinkle  out  of  its  branches. 
Again,   too,  when  the  storm  is   raging  it   would  seem 


80  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

as  though  the  passion  that  lay  slumbering  in  its  heart 
had  at  last  burst  forth,  and,  reckless  of  consequences, 
would  show  the  world  what  hidden  power  was  stored 
up  within  it.  Whatever  dullness  there  may  be  in  the 
school,  the  tree,  at  least,  is  determined  that  there  shall 
be  none  in  connection  with  it. 

As  the  time  draws  near  for  the  opening  of  the  school, 
the  scholars  begin  to  assemble.  They  are  of  all  sizes 
and  ages,  from  seven  or  eight  up  to  seventeen  or 
eighteen.  Some  of  them  are  little  fellows  who  have  a 
shy  and  frightened  air  about  them,  as  though  they  were 
doubtful  as  to  how  they  would  get  on  in  the  school. 
Others,  again,  are  full  of  life  and  spirit,  and  their 
black  eyes  flash  with  the  fun  that  is  racing  through 
their  hearts,  and  the  jokes  they  make  and  the  horseplay 
they  indulge  in  are  thoroughly  typical  of  the  schoolboy 
genus  all  over  the  world.  In  looks  they  do  not  compare 
favourably  with  a  similar  set  of  English  lads.  They 
are  of  a  rougher  and  less  refined  type,  and  there  is 
not  a  single  gentlemanly-looking  boy  amongst  them. 
They  all  have  the  appearance  of  belonging  to  the  very 
lowest  class.  This  is  not  really  the  case,  however. 
That  they  look  as  if  they  belonged  to  the  humbler 
classes  is  mainly  due  to  the  wretched,  uninteresting 
clothes  that  the  Chinese  wear.  In  the  case  of  these 
boys,  these  consist  of  loose  trousers  and  just  as  loose 
and  ill-fitting  a  coat,  made  of  homespun  dark  blue 
cotton  cloth,  on  many  of  them  showing  signs  of  wear. 
They  are  all  made  of  one  identical  pattern,  evidently 
by  their  mothers,  and  without  any  attempt  to  make 
them  set  off  the  person.  They  have  been  made  on 
such  a  liberal  pattern  that  boys  of  about  the  same 
size  could  easily  exchange  garments  without  their  ever 
suspecting  that  they  were  not  wearing  their  own  clothes. 
Another  reason,  no  doubt,  for  their  anything  but  aristo- 
cratic appearance  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Chinese 
face  has  few  elements  of  beauty  in  it.  The  high  cheek- 
bones, the  large  mouth,  the  almond-shaped  slits  out 
of  which  the  small  black  eyes  twinkle,  and  the  yellow 
skin  over  which  no  ruddy  colour  ever  passes,  all  tend 
to  give  a  common,  unsesthetic  look  to  the  great  mass  of 
people  that   one   meets   with   in   ordinary   life. 

Each  boy  has  provided  himself  with  a  small  oblong 


SCHOOLS  AND  SCHOOLMASTERS  81 

table,  with  two  drawers  in  it  for  his  books  and  papers, 
and  a  high  wooden  stool  on  which  to  sit.  As  they  rush 
into  the  empty  room  each  one  selects  the  particular  spot 
in  it  which  catches  his  fancy,  and  so  in  the  course  of  a 
few  minutes  the  place  is  furnished  and  twenty  boys 
are  seated  in  the  identical  spots  they  are  to  occupy 
during  the  rest  of  the  year.  They  seemed  to  us  to 
be  very  much  crowded,  for,  according  to  all  Western 
sanitary  ideas,  the  room  was  not  large  enough  to  accom- 
modate one -half  of  their  number  if  health  was  any 
consideration.  This  fact,  however,  gives  the  lads  no 
concern.  Discomfort  seems  the  normal  condition  of 
the  Chinese.  Impure  air,  slovenly,  filthy  surroundings, 
horrible  smells,  hard  benches  and  chairs  that  are  a 
torture  are  all  things  that  form  part  of  the  every -day 
life  of  the  people  of  this  vast  empire.  The  boys,  there- 
fore, see  nothing  incongruous  in  having  to  study  in 
a  room  that  would  soon  place  the  same  number  of 
English  boys  in  the  hands  of  the  doctor. 

In  the  midst  of  the  noise  and  babel  of  voices  caused 
by  the  lads  settling  down  into  their  places  the  teacher 
walks  in  from  a  room  leading  into  the  schoolroom, 
which  is  to  be  his  home  whilst  the  school  is  in  session. 
There  is  an  instant  hush,  and  twenty  pairs  of  eyes  are 
fastened  upon  him  with  an  intense  and  eager  gaze. 
Every  lad  is  trying  to  take  his  measure  and  see  what 
sort  of  a  man  he  has  to  deal  with.  Will  he  be  severe 
or  will  he  be  kind?  Will  the  hours  pass  by  in  torture 
whilst  they  are  in  his  presence  or  will  he  be  generous 
in  his  treatment  of  them,  so  that  study  shall  be  a  real 
pleasure  to  them?  These  are  the  questions  that  flash 
through  their  young  brains,  and,  though  the  man's  face 
is  sphinxlike,  they  have  still  penetrated  enough  to  have 
caught  a  glimpse  of  what  the  possible  answers  may  be. 

The  teacher  takes  his  seat  at  a  table  that  has  been 
already  placed  for  him  by  the  elders  of  the  village. 
On  it  are  a  large-sized  inkstone,  a  diminutive  earthen 
vase  for  the  water  with  which  to  rub  his  ink  on  the 
stone,  a  very  small  brown  teapot,  and  two  or  three 
Lilliputian  teacups.  Lying  in  a  conspicuous  place  on 
it  there  is  also  a  good  stout,  broad  bamboo  rod,  which 
the  scholars  recognise  as  something  specially  belong- 
ing to  them,  and  whose  acquaintance  they  will  not  be 

6 


J 


82  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

long  in  making  after  the  school  has  fairly  got  under 
weigii. 

The  man  upon  whom  the  eyes  of  the  nervous,  anxious 
lads  are  fastened  does  not  utter  a  sound,  neither  does 
the  ghost  of  a  smile  light  up  that  impenetrable  coun- 
tenance of  his.  There  are  no  cheery  words  for  the 
boys,  and  no  token  that  his  heart  has  been  moved  by 
the  sight  of  so  many  young  faces  before  him.  To 
show  any  sign  of  human  interest  in  them,  or  to  let  them 
see  that  his  heart  has  one  grain  of  sympathy  for  them, 
would  run  right  in  the  teeth  of  all  the  traditions  of  the 
past,  and  would  be  a  mark  of  weakness  that  might 
endanger  his  authority  over  his  pupils  for  the  whole 
year. 

His  first  duty  is  to  classify  the  boys,  see  what  books 
they  have  read,  give  them  their  lessons,  and  send  them 
to  their  seats  to  learn  them.  All  this  is  done  with  a 
severity  fit  to  awe  the  hearts  of  the  bravest.  Let  us 
for  a  moment  glance  over  their  shoulders  at  those 
strange,  old-world-looking  word  pictures  that  have  such 
a  mysterious  look  about  them  and  try  and  find  out  what 
they  are  studying.  Chinese  school-books  are  perhaps 
amongst  the  driest,  mustiest,  and  crankiest  that  were 
ever  put  into  the  hands  of  schoolboys.  The  question 
whether  they  would  ever  interest  or  amuse  them  was 
never  for  one  moment  considered  by  their  authors. 
There  is  no  humour  in  them,  nor  a  spark  of  wit.  They 
are  of  the  dullest  and  most  dead-level  description,  and 
their  great  merit  seems  to  consist  in  the  fact  that  they 
will  never  by  any  chance  bring  up  the  ghost  of  a  smile 
upon  the  face  of  the  funniest  or  most  laughter -loving 
lad  who  studies  them.  The  Western  method  of 
beginning  with  such  words  as  "  cat  "  and  '*  dog  "  is 
considered  too  puerile  to  be  adopted  in  this  land  of 
great  scholars  and  sages.  Instead  of  that,  the  boy  of 
eight  or  nine  begins  his  literary  career  with  a  book 
that  is  concerned  about  a  most  profound  and  ethical 
question.  It  is  called  "  The  Three  Character  Classic," 
because  it  is  composed  of  a  series  of  sentences,  each 
consisting  of  three  words.  Its  first  statement  is  a  very 
dogmatic  one,  and  that  says  "  Man  by  nature  is 
originally  good."  This  has  given  rise  to  two  schools 
of  thinkers,  one  agreeing  with  it  and  the  other  dissenting 


SCHOOLS  AND  SCHOOLMASTERS  83 

from  it.  Just  imagine  an  English  boy  of  ten,  instead 
of  the  breezy  Httle  stories  and  beautiful  pictures  to 
illustrate  them  with  which  he  passes  his  day  in  the 
school,  having  to  discuss  some  profound  metaphysical 
question  like  the  above,  and  it  will  be  understood  how 
dreary  and  monotonous  are  the  early  days  of  a  Chinese 
schoolboy's  life. 

The  ancient  classics  of  China  are  next  put  into  the 
hands  of  the  pupils.  These  all  deal  with  questions  of 
how  to  govern  a  nation,  with  metaphysical  subtleties, 
with  profound  ethical  disputations,  and  with  a  host 
of  other  things  that  are  more  suitable  for  grown-up 
men  to  consider  than  schoolboys.  That  this  is  so  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  the  most  advanced  scholars  of 
China  spend  all  their  lives  in  the  exclusive  study  of 
these  very  books.  The  Chinese  pupil,  therefore,  is 
much  to  be  pitied.  He  has  no  joy  in  his  books,  but 
one  eternal  grind  in  his  endeavour  to  imprint  upon  his 
memory  the  badly-printed  words  that  seem  to  blot  and 
smear  the  page.  These  never  suggest  anything  that 
has  to  do  with  ordinary  common  life.  They  are  always 
solemn  and  sedate,  with  square,  shrivelled-up -looking 
little  faces,  as  though  laughter  and  fun  and  smiles  were 
a  crime  against  which  they  were  bound  to  protest.  No 
children's  faces  ever  peer  out  of  their  pages,  and  no 
merry  sounds  ever  echo  from  them.  Such  stories  as 
"  Jack  and  Jill,  "  Jack  and  the  Beanstalk,"  or  '*  The 
House  that  Jack  built  "  never  light  up  the  black  eyes 
of  these  laughter -loving  lads  with  a  sense  of  the  ridicu- 
lous. The  fact  of  the  matter  is,  the  Chinese  have 
always  legislated  for  grown-up  people.  No  writer  for 
two  thousand  years  has  ever  written  for  the  young. 
No  artist  of  any  standing  has  ever  dreamed  of  painting 
pictures  that  would  give  them  pleasure  or  that  would 
depict  child-life,  and  no  scholar  has  ever  thought  of 
suggesting  a  series  of  school-books  that  might  be  easy 
and  interesting.  The  consequence  is  that  the  same 
books  have  been  used  in  every  school  throughout  the 
empire,  without  pictures  and  without  any  illustrations 
whatsoever.  They  are  usually  printed  on  the  flimsiest 
kind  of  paper  in  a  type  that  is  crowded  and  indistinct, 
and  with  paper  covers  that  easily  become  dog-eared 
and  disreputable -looking. 


84  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

Let  us  come  back  to  the  boys  who  have  taken  their 
seats  at  their  tables.  The  lessons  have  been  assigned, 
each  boy  is  in  his  place,  and  the  master,  with  a  cold 
and  severe  frown  upon  his  face,  is  preparing  copies  for 
them  to  write  by  and  by.  We,  of  course,  expect  the 
most  profound  silence  to  reign  in  the  room,  but  we  soon 
get  disabused  of  that  idea.  All  at  once,  to  our  surprise, 
a  thin,  shrill  voice  is  heard  piping  from  one  of  the 
corners  of  the  room,  and  almost  at  the  same  instant 
a  deep  bass  sends  forth  its  notes  from  an  opposite 
direction.  One  by  one  others  join  in  until  there  is  not 
a  single  voice  in  the  room  silent,  but  every  one,  at  the 
very  highest  pitch  of  voice  that  his  throat  can  utter, 
is  screaming  out  the  words  of  his  lesson.  To  us  there 
is  no  harmony  in  the  combined  sound,  for  every  lad 
acts  quite  independently  of  every  other,  and  screams 
out  at  his  own  pitch  the  particular  words  he  wishes  to 
imprint  on  his  memory.  The  Chinese,  on  the  other 
hand,  look  upon  these  vocal  calisthenics  of  the  young 
pupils  as  one  of  the  finest  things  connected  with  their 
school  system,  and  people  from  the  outside  listen  with 
the  keenest  delight  to  the  confused  and  unmusical  out- 
burst of  the  lads,  as  without  any  harmony  or  rhythm 
they  strive  to  perpetuate  the  sounds  that  started  twenty 
centuries  ago  in  the  dawn  of  Chinese  history. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  Chinese  system  of  education 
is  about  as  trying  and  as  uninteresting  as  it  is  possible 
to  make  it.  In  the  first  place,  the  hours  are  too  long. 
The  little  fellows  may  be  seen  about  six  in  the  morning 
wending  their  way  with  their  books  in  their  hands  to 
the  schoolhouse,  where  the  master  is  already  waiting 
for  them  with  that  severe  look  upon  his  face,  as  though 
he  had  never  learned  to  smile.  They  continue  to  study 
till  about  eight,  when  they  go  home  for  breakfast.  An 
hour  hence  they  must  be  back  again,  and,  seated  on 
their  high  stools,  they  must  be  roaring  out  the  antique 
sounds  with  a  twang  of  past  centuries  in  them  till  mid- 
day, when  they  are  once  more  released  for  dinner. 
After  duly  shovelling  down  their  throats  the  orthodox 
number  of  bowls  of  rice  with  their  chopsticks,  and 
swallowing  diseased  cabbage  and  disgusting-looking 
snails  and  slugs  that  have  been  browned  in  the  frying- 
pan,  they  return  once  more  to  their  stools,  where  they 


SCHOOLS  AND   SCHOOLMASTERS  85 

continue  the  roaring  process  of  the  morning  until  the 
evening  shadows  begin  to  creep  under  the  high  banyan - 
tree  and  into  the  schoolroom,  where  they  put  out  the 
sunlight  and  play  tricks  with  the  little  picture  words, 
so  that  they  cannot  be  distinguished  in  the  deepening 
twilight.  Then  the  school  is  dismissed,  and  by 
the  time  they  have  had  their  evening  meal  it  is 
bedtime. 

In  the  next  place,  the  very  nature  of  their  early 
studies  puts  a  difficulty  in  their  way  that  absolutely 
prevents  them  from  enjoying  them.  When  the  books 
are  first  put  into  the  hands  of  the  scholars  they  see 
before  them  a  series  of  pictures  made  up  of  certain 
strokes  of  the  pen,  each  one  with  its  own  distinctive 
marks  that  give  it  its  individuality.  Each  picture  stands 
absolutely  alone.  No  connecting  link  binds  any  one  to 
another  or  gives  the  least  hint  of  what  any  one  means. 
The  cuneiform  figures  on  an  Assyrian  inscription 
are  transparently  plain  in  comparison  with  these 
Chinese  cryptic  pictures  that  form  their  written 
language . 

Now,  the  teacher  never  dreams  of  telling  the  lads 
the  meaning  of  these  little  square-faced  words.  They 
simply  tell  the  name  by  which  each  is  called.  It  is 
supposed  to  be  the  precise  one  that  was  given  to  them 
by  the  great  scholars  and  sages  who  invented  them. 
This,  of  course,  is  entirely  fanciful,  for  the  original 
sound  has  been  lost  in  the  passage  of  the  centuries, 
and  in  thousands  of  districts  throughout  the  empire  to- 
day the  names  that  are  given  in  each  vary  from  those 
given  by  all  the  others.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the 
names  are  entirely  arbitrary,  and  give  no  indication 
whatever  of  the  meaning  of  the  words  to  which  they 
are  applied.  This  process  of  learning  the  sounds  of 
the  words  only  continues  for  four  or  five  years,  until 
all  the  recognised  books  taught  in  the  schools  have 
been  read  through.  It  may  easily  be  imagined  how 
dull  and  dreary  the  years  must  be  in  which  only  sounds 
are  learned,  and  not  a  single  fresh  thought  is  being 
conveyed  to  the  growing  intelligence  of  the  pupils. 
After  the  students  have  passed  through  this  literary, 
treadmill,  the  teacher  begins  to  explain  the  meaning  of 
all  the  pictures  they  have  learned  ;   and  now  the  books, 


86  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

instead  of  being  filled  with  weird  and  mysterious 
symbols  that  suggest  no  thought,  and  give  no  sugges- 
tion to  the  mind,  are  replete  with  life.  They  speak 
in  solemn  tones,  it  is  true,  but  it  is  the  human  voice  that 
is  now  heard  and  that  always  has  an  attraction  about 
it.  The  voices  they  hear  are  those  of  men  that  lived 
thousands  of  years  ago,  and  as  they  try  to  catch  their 
echoes  it  would  seem  as  though  some  invisible  link 
bound  them  to  the  past,  so  that  in  future  their  ideals 
are  for  ever  inextricably  bound  up  with  the  men  whose 
thoughts  mastered  them  when  they  were  boys  at 
school. 

During  the  years  that  the  lads  spend  their  time  amid 
the  clash  of  sounds — each  one  brief  but  most  inhar- 
monious, and  containing  no  germ  thought  that  might 
appeal  to  their  imagination,  so  as  to  lift  them  up  now 
and  again  into  the  region  of  romance — the  long  hours 
must  pass  with  leaden  feet.  There  is  no  change  of 
studies  to  lighten  the  monotony,  and  no  recess  when 
the  whole  school  is  let  loose  to  shout  and  romp  and  for 
ten  minutes  to  forget  the  drudgery  and  confinement  of 
the  hot,  close  room.  The  only  possible  relaxation  is 
the  permission  for  each  boy  to  go  outside  for  a  minute 
or  two,  but  only  one  at  a  time.  On  the  master's  desk 
lies  a  small  bamboo  token  ;  any  boy  is  at  liberty  to 
go  up  and  take  it  whenever  he  wishes  to  have  a  rest 
from  the  weariness  of  the  schoolroom.  He  places  it 
on  his  own  table  till  he  returns,  when  he  restores  it  to 
its  original  place  on  the  desk.  The  teacher  can  thus 
see  at  a  glance  who  is  out  and  how  long  he  has  been 
ahsent,  and  so  there  cannot  be  any  undue  skulking 
by  any  one.  In  the  vast  majority  of  the  schools  the 
teacher  keeps  a  tight  hand  upon  the  boys  and  carries 
out  a  most  stern  and  rigid  discipline.  The  punishments 
are  mainly  for  idleness  and  for  not  learning  the  lessons, 
for  it  is  very  rarely  that  discipline  has  to  be  exercised 
for  disobedience  or  for  refractory  conduct  during  school 
hours.  In  chastising  the  most  popular  instrument  is 
the  bamboo  rod  that  lies  prominently  on  the  teacher's 
desk.  A  lad  who  does  not  know  his  lesson  is  made  to 
hold  out  his  hand,  when  a  number  of  strokes  is  given 
that  usually  makes  him  howl  with  pain.  Another  plan 
is    to    make   him   kneel    on    the    ground   until    he    has 


SCHOOLS  AND  SCHOOLMASTERS  87 

mastered  his  lesson  ;  or  he  is  made  to  stand  on  a  foot- 
square  tile,  with  no  liberty  to  move  either  of  his  feet, 
until  walking  up  to  the  teacher  and  turning  his  back 
towards  him  he  can  recite  his  lesson  without  a 
mistake. 

With  regard  to  the  teachers  there  is,  as  might  have 
been  expected,  a  great  variety  of  characters.  They 
constitute  what  are  called  the  gentry  of  the  country, 
and  are  most  tenacious  of  their  rights.  They  are  proud 
and  haughty,  intensely  conservative,  and  mortal  foes 
to  everything  that  is  not  Chinese.  From  an  English 
standpoint,  they  are  grossly  and  hopelessly  ignorant  ; 
for  their  education  has  never  embraced  any  of  the 
liberal  arts,  nor  even  such  elementary  subjects  as 
arithmetic,  geography,  or  general  history.  The  only 
one  branch  in  which  they  have  been  thoroughly  trained 
are  the  standard  classical  books,  that  are  the  product 
of  the  sages  who  lived  more  than  twenty  centuries  ago. 
These  they  can  repeat  word  for  word  by  heart,  together 
with  the  recognised  commentaries  on  them. 

These  works  have  developed  certain  lines  of  thought 
that  have  quickened  the  intellect  of  the  learned,  but 
their  education  has  been  so  narrow  that  they  know  abso- 
lutely nothing  of  other  studies  that  are  familiar  to  our 
more  advanced  schoolboys  in  England.  Every  teacher 
is  a  king  in  his  own  school  and  will  brook  no  inter- 
ference or  reproof  from  any  one  for  his  conduct  of 
it.  Should  any  person  have  the  hardihood  to  express 
his  displeasure  at  anything  he  has  done,  he  has  simply 
to  complain  of  him  to  the  nearest  mandarin,  who  will 
squeeze  him  so  unmercifully  that  he  will  be  glad  to 
humble  himself  in  the  dust  and  pay  a  good  round  sum 
with  which  to  solace  the  teacher's  wounded  feelings. 
These  remarks  apply  to  the  profession  generally,  even 
to  those  members  of  it  who  most  disgracefully  mis- 
behave themselves  and  who  utterly  neglect  their  duties 
to  their  pupils.  A  man,  for  example,  will  teach  a  few 
days  and  then  go  on  the  spree.  He  will  absolutely 
neglect  his  school  and  stay  away  for  days  and  even 
weeks  without  once  putting  in  an  appearance.  Most 
of  the  boys  are,  of  course,  delighted  at  this,  but  the 
parents  are  full  of  indignation,  which  they  are  careful, 
however,  not  to  express   so   as   to   reach  the   teacher's 


88  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

ears.  The  man  may  continue  this  conduct  the  whole  of 
the  year,  so  that  he  may  have  taught  only  a  few  weeks 
during  the  course  of  it,  and  yet  the  full  amount  of  salary 
must  be  paid  him  and  the  elders  must  part  from  him 
at  the  close  of  the  year  with  profuse  compliments,  just 
as  though  he  had  fulfilled  every  duty  and  had  been  a 
model  teacher.  The  only  hold  that  people  have  on 
such  scamps  is  the  evil  reputation  these  men  get, 
which  will  deter  people  from  employing  them  in  the 
future. 

There  is  one  class  of  scholars  in  China  that  is  peculiar 
to  the  country.  The  men  belonging  to  it  go  by  the 
name  of  the  **  Strolling  scholars."  They  are  all  able, 
clever  men,  but  they  are  absolutely  without  any  moral 
character.  They  are  the  waifs  and  strays  that  float 
about  society,  and  are  a  disgrace  to  the  learned  pro- 
fession. They  are  very  generally  opium-smokers,  a 
habit  that  disqualifies  them  for  any  steady  work,  whilst 
at  the  same  time  it  demands  a  constant  supply  of 
money  to  ward  off  the  pains  and  penalties  that  it 
makes  its  victims  suffer  when  the  craving  is  upon  them. 
As  they,  earn  no  regular  salary,  and  are  absolutely 
without  private  funds,  they  make  it  a  practice  to  stroll, 
round  the  country,  and  visit  all  the  schools  they  come 
across.  An  unwritten  law  compels  the  teachers  of 
these  to  invite  them  to  take  a  meal  with  them,  or,  if 
it  be  late  when  they  arrive,  to  spend  the  night  with 
them,  and  when  they  leave  to  present  them  with  a  small 
sum  to  carry  them  on  their  way.  The  generality  of 
teachers  are  in  dread  of  these  prodigals,  as  they  are 
so  unprincipled  and  without  conscience  that  they  never 
know  what  mischief  they  may  be  up  to,  or  what 
nefarious  schemes  they  may  be  planning  to  wring  money 
out  of  them.  If  the  schoolmaster  be  a  strong  man 
and  a  good  scholar,  he  has  nothing  to  fear.  If,  how- 
ever, he  be  a  man  of  only  moderate  abilities,  and 
inferior  scholarship,  he  is  sure  to  be  fleeced.  For 
example,  one  of  these  strollers  enters  a  schoolhouse 
during  the  time  that  lessons  are  going  on.  He  sees 
at  a  glance  that  the  teacher  is  a  poor  fellow,  and  no 
match  for  him.  He  at  once  assumes  a  stern  and  dis- 
pleased air,  and  says  :  *'  You  have  no  right  to  be  the 
instructor  of  these  boys,  for  you  have  not  the  learning 


SCHOOLS  AND  SCHOOLMASTERS  89 

that  would  qualify  you  to  teach  them.  I  propose  to 
examine  you  to  see  if  you  are  fit  for  your  post,  and 
if  not  you  shall  at  once  vacate  it,  and  I  shall  take  charge 
of  the  school.  The  better  man  ought  to  be  here, 
and  we  shall  at  once  decide  whether  he  be  you  or 
I.*'  It  may  be  confidently  affirmed  that  no  such  free- 
and-easy  action  could  take  place  in  any  other  country 
except  China.  The  effect  upon  the  poor  teacher  is 
most  marked.  He  knows  that  he  could  not  for  a 
moment  compete  with  this  clever  scamp,  and  so  he 
hastens  to  come  to  terms  with  him,  and  buys  him  off 
with  a  good  round  sum.  The  stroller  departs  with  a 
grim  smile  upon  his  leaden-hued  visage,  and  chuckles 
in  his  heart  whilst  he  makes  straight  for  the  first  opium- 
den,  where,  amidst  the  reek  and  fumes  of  the  drug, 
he  gradually  falls  asleep  thinking  of  the  clever  way 
in  which  he  has  been  able  to  raise  the  wind  for  his 
present  carouse. 

The  school  system  that  I  have  been  describing  still 
exists,  to  a  very  large  extent,  in  the  villages  through- 
out the  land.  The  Government  schools  have,  so  far, 
been  established  mainly  in  the  cities  and  prominent 
market  towns.  Lads  ambitious  of  gaining  their  degrees 
and  of  thus  being  qualified  to  take  official  positions 
under  the  State,  flock  into  them,  as  do  also  pupils  for 
any  other  reason  who  can  afford  to  pay  the  largely 
increased  fees  that  are  demanded  from  them. 

Very  many  parents  could  not  afford  to  send  their 
sons  to  them,  whilst  others  who  desire  only  sufficient 
education  to  fit  them  to  become  business  men,  are 
quite  content  with  the  old  system  in  which  they  them- 
selves were  trained. 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  in  time  the  influence, 
of  the  new  learning  will  extend  to  all  the  common 
schools  throughout  the  empire,  but  it  will  take  a  good 
many  years  to  do  that  in  such  an  extensive  country 
as  China.  Under  the  new  republic  the  State  schools 
will  no  doubt  develop  more  rapidly  and  on  better  lines 
than  was  possible  under  the  old  voluntary  system,  where 
the  Government  took  no  steps  for  the  education  of  the 
children  of  the  nation.  It  must  be  understood,  how- 
ever, that  China,  taken  as  a  whole,  is  still  carrying 
on  the  system  of  education  that  has  been  in  existence 


90  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

during  the  past  ages.  How,  indeed,  could  it  be  other- 
wise? It  will  take  long  before  men  trained  to  teach 
the  new  educational  methods  can  be  obtained  for  the 
countless  schools  throughout  the  empire.  These  must 
remain  very  much  as  they  have  always  been  until 
sufficient  teachers  are  available. 


CHAPTER    VII 

ANCESTOR    WORSHIP 

If  we  were  to  search  through  every  class  of  society 
in  China  for  the  one  spiritual  force  that  influences  and 
dominates  them  all,  we  should  find  it  to  be  ancestor 
worship.  There  is  no  other  in  the  region  of  belief 
that  would  take  its  place  for  a  moment.  A  man,  for 
example,  may  worship  the  idols  or  not  ;  he  may  profess 
a  belief  in  them  or  he  may  express  his  utter  scepticism 
about  them,  and  no  one  cares  a  button  what  he  thinks. 
Let  a  man,  however,  neglect  the  worship  of  the  dead, 
and  he  is  looked  upon  with  the  utmost  scorn,  both 
by  his  own  kindred  and  also  by  his  neighbours.  The 
bitterest  taunt  that  the  Chinese  can  hurl  against  the 
convert  to  Christianity,  and  the  one  that  stings  him 
most,  is  the  sneering  statement  that  he  has  no  ancestors. 

This  worship  dates  back  to  the  very  earliest  times 
of  Chinese  history.  Confucius,  in  his  *'  Record  of 
Rites,"  lays  down  minute  rules  as  to  the  etiquette  that 
should  be  observed  in  its  performance.  It  would  seem, 
however,  as  though  its  character  has  materially  changed 
since  his  time.  Then,  the  services  in  the  ancestral 
temples  were  simply  memorial  ones,  in  order  to  keep 
alive  the  recollection  of  the  loved  ones  who  had  passed 
away  and  to  prevent  their  memory  from  fading  out 
of  the  minds   of  the  living. 

During  the  centuries  that  have  elapsed  since  then, 
a  great  many  accretions  have  been  added  to  the  original 
idea.  Men  after  a  time  began  to  believe  that  the 
founders  of  their  clans,  though  dead,  possessed  great 
power  in  the  land  of  spirits,  and  that  they  could  control 
the  lives  and  fortunes  of  their  kindred  on  earth.  With 
the  gradual  growth  of  this  belief,  faith  in  ancestor 
worship   struck   its    roots    deeper   and    deeper   into   the 

91 


92  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

hearts  of  the  nation.  Since  the  prosperity  or  adversity 
of  the  clan  depended  upon  the  dead  father  of  the  race, 
it  became  an  article  of  prime  importance  that  regular 
worship  should  be  paid  to  them,  and  that  the  bond 
that  bound  the  living  and  the  dead  should  never  be 
snapped  even  for  a  moment.  The  idea  of  kindly  recol- 
lection of  the  dead  has  vanished,  and  men  keep  up 
the  worship  of  them  now  simply  because  they  fear 
that  if  they  neglect  them,  decay  of  fortunes  and  sorrows 
innumerable  will  fall  upon  the  homes  of  their  posterity. 

The  Chinese  theory  is  that  a  man  has  three  souls. 
When  he  dies  one  of  these  goes  into  the  **  Dark  World," 
where,  it  is  believed,  it  finds  a  state  of  things  very 
similar  to  that  which  it  left  in  this  life.  The  popular 
ideas,  however,  on  this  subject  are  very  vague,  and 
will  not  bear  pressing  too  closely,  but  there  is  a 
general  conception  that  the  other  world  is  a  counter- 
part of  this,  only  its  conditions  are  of  a  decidedly 
inferior,  and  less  cheerful,  character.  A  second  soul 
remains  in  the  tomb,  whilst  the  third  enters  the  ancestral 
tablet,  and  it  is  with  these  two  last  that  ancestor  worship 
is  entirely  concerned. 

If  the  man  be  a  chief  of  his  clan,  his  tablet  is 
placed  in  the  ancestral  temple  amongst  those  of  the 
distinguished  men  of  his  kindred,  but  if  he  be  an 
ordinary  individual,  it  is  put  in  some  convenient  place 
in  his  old  home,  where  it  is  cared  for  by  the  friends 
who  mourn  his  loss.  The  spirit  in  the  grave  is  wor- 
shipped once  a  year  in  the  spring,  at  the  festival  called 
the  Feast  of  Tombs.  In  some  respects  this  ceremony 
is  one  of  the  most  interesting  sights  that  one  meets 
with  in  China.  The  hills  and  mountains  that  abound 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  empire  are  the  favourite 
places  where  the  people  like  to  bury  their  dead.  This 
is  not  entirely  from  an  assthetic  point  of  view,  but 
simply  because  the  fengshal  there  is  believed  to  be 
so  powerful  that  it  will  combine  with  the  efforts  of 
the  dead  ancestors  in  sending  down  blessings  upon 
the  living  descendants. 

It  is  the  custom  at  the  Feast  of  Tombs  for  nearly 
the  whole  population  to  turn  out  and  visit  their  family 
graves  on  the  hillsides.  The  husband  and  the  wife  and 
the   little   ones   troop   out   with   happy   faces   for   their 


ANCESTOR  WORSHIP  93 

joyous  expedition  to  the  hills.  It  is  an  annual  picnic 
that,  for  the  youngsters  at  least,  has  a  fascination  and 
a  charm  that  have  put  sunshine  into  their  lives  for 
weeks  before.  The  man  carries  a  hoe  and  his  wife 
sundry  good  things  in  a  basket  that  are  to  serve  both 
as  offerings  to  the  dead  and  as  the  feast  that  they 
will  all,  by  and  by,  partake  of  when  the  service  is 
over. 

The  appearance  of  the  mountains  at  this  time  is 
a  highly  picturesque  one.  They  are  bathed  in  floods 
of  sunshine  that  steep  them  with  a  glory  that  dazzles 
one  to  look  upon.  And  see  how  beautifully  they  are 
fretted  and  veined  with  shadows.,  Here  a  monster  cliff, 
projecting  from  the  face  of  the  mountain,  paints  a 
dark  picture  of  itself  on  the  glowing  canvas  ;  whilst 
there  light  and  transparent  shadows  of  the  passing 
clouds  travel  over  the  sunlit  face  of  the  hill  and  add 
the  grace  and  charm  of  variety  to  it.  The  grass, 
amber -hued,  dyed  by  the  winds  that  sung  and  sighed 
amongst  it  during  the  winter  months,  seems  to  be  look- 
ing piteously  for  the  spring  rains  to  flash  the  green 
back  again  into  it  ;  whilst  the  hills,  that  one  can  see 
in  the  distance,  appear  dusky  red  when  viewed  through 
the  hazy  glory  of  the  fiery  rays  of  the  sun. 

The  figures  that  move  in  and  out  the  thousands  of 
graves  that  dot  the  face  of  the  hills  give  them  a  warm 
and  living  look.  The  men  and  women  in  their  dull 
blue  cotton  clothes  seem  like  delicate  shading  in  the 
fierce  light  by  which  they  are  enveloped  ;  whilst  the 
girls  in  their  white  cotton  dresses,  trimmed  with  shades 
of  pink  and  crimson,  act  as  a  silver  lining  to  the 
shadows  that  now  and  again  mingle  with  the  sunlight. 
The  picture  produced  by  fiery  sun,  and  fleecy  clouds, 
and  figures  moving  amongst  the  lights  and  shadows  on 
the  hillsides  is  one  full  of  poetry,  and  suggestive  of 
thoughts  that  carry  one  away  from  dull  earth  to  a  land 
of  romance. 

When  the  family  arrives  at  the  grave,  the  father  uses 
the  hoe  he  has  brought  with  him  to  repair  the  damage 
that  the  rains  and  storms  of  the  past  year  have  done 
to  it.  Whilst  he  is  trimming  it  and  returfing  the  mound 
that  has  lost  its  shapely  roundness,  the  wife  and  girls 
afe  placing  the  offerings  of  food  on  the  stone  slab  in 


94  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

front  of  it,  ready  for  the  hungry  spirit  within  to  satisfy 
the  long  fast  of  the  year.  When  all  these  preliminaries 
have  been  gone  through,  the  father,  as  the  high  priest 
of  the  family,  stands  erect  in  front  of  the  grave,  and 
with  hands  uplifted  and  pressed  together  he  addresses 
the  spirit  :  "  Your  children  have  come  to-day  with 
offerings  of  food.  ^We  are  poor,  or  we  would  have 
brought  you  a  richer  repast  than  what  we  have  spread 
before  you.  Come,  we  pray  you,  and  disdain  not  the 
simple  food,  but  partake  of  it,  and  so  show  that  you 
love  us  as  you  did  before  you  left  us  for  the  dark 
world." 

He  then  goes  on  to  tell  the  dead  how  the  family 
is  :  '*  We  have  not  prospered  during  the  past  year. 
We  have  had  losses  in  the  business.  Sickness  has 
visited  our  family,  and  we  can  only  just  manage  to 
drag  through  life,  though  we  all  work  hard  and  use 
the  utmost  economy  in  the  home.  We  look  to  you  to 
save  us  in  the  future.  Remember  our  kinship,  and  use 
your  power  to  bless  us  with  prosperity.  Listen  to 
us,  our  father,  and  cheer  the  hearts  you  still  love  by 
rescuing  them  from  poverty  and  disgrace." 

After  this  formal  worship  of  the  dead,  the  good 
things  that  have  been  left  over  by  the  now  satisfied 
spirit  are  eaten  by  the  hungry  family.  The  eyes  of 
the  girls  glisten  as  they  look  at  the  cakes  and  the 
cold  fowl  and  the  luscious  fruits  that  hunger,  stimu- 
lated by  the  mountain  air,  invests  with  a  charm  they 
could  not  have  had  in  the  frowsy  old  town  from  which 
they  have  just  ascended,  at  the  foot  of  the  hills.  What 
a  splendid  day  they  are  having  !  There  is  not  a  cloud 
upon  the  face  of  any  one  of  them,  but  the  dainties 
disappear  amid  laughter  and  jokes  and  pleasant  con- 
versation that  make  the  time  fly. 

At  length  the  afternoon  begins  to  wane.  The  sun 
has  gone  down  behind  a  distant  mountain,  and  a  twi- 
light has  crept  into  the  air  and  dimmed  its  richness. 
The  shadows,  too,  lengthen,  marching  as  it  were  out 
of  the  night,  and  quenching  the  golden  hues  that  have 
touched  the  landscape  with  their  glory.  The  crowds 
upon  the  mountain -side  now  begin  to  dissolve.  The 
varied  stories  of  the  past  year,  with  their  tragedies 
and  comedies,  have  been  rehearsed  in  the  hearing  of 


ANCESTOR  WORSHIP  95 

the  dead,  and  with  last  lingering  looks  at  the  mounds 
that  contain  the  ashes  of  those  they  love,  they  wend 
their  way  to  the  plain  beneath.  For  another  year  the 
solitude  will  be  unbroken,  excepting  by  the  foot  of 
the  passer-by,  and  all  that  will  be  left  to  care  for 
them  will  be  Nature's  kindly  hand,  which  will  strive 
to  repair  the  damage  done  by  storms  and  rain  and 
sunshine  by  covering  them  with  grasses  and  wild 
flowers . 

The  spirit  in  the  tablet  '  in  the  home  is  worshipped 
twice  a  year,  with  very  much  the  same  ceremonies  as 
that  in  the  grave.  The  greatest  honours  are  reserved 
for  the  spirits  of  the  founders  and  chiefs  of  the  clan, 
whose  tablets  are  placed  in  a  large  building  called  the 
Hall  of  Ancestors.  These  are  worshipped  in  the  spring 
and  autumn  by  all  the  members  of  the  clan  that  can 
possibly  attend.  A  description  of  an  actual  service  will 
give  the  reader  some  idea  of  the  important  place  it 
occupies  in  the  estimation  of  the  Chinese,  and  the  hold 
it  has  upon  the  imagination  and  faith  of  the  worshippers. 

The  hall  where  the  ceremonies  are  performed  is  a 
large,  substantial  building,  capable  of  holding  six  or 
seven  hundred  people.  It  is  massively  built,  and  is 
in  excellent  repair,  thus  contrasting  favourably  with 
the  idol  temple  near  by,  that  is  in  a  forlorn  and  some- 
what dilapidated  condition,  well  in  keeping  with  the 
generality  of  such  buildings. 

It  is  a  notable  day  this,  for  it  is  the  autumn  festival, 
and  the  clan  will  assemble  to  worship  the  spirits  that 
are  supposed  to  hold  the  honour  and  prosperity  of 
every  member  in  their  keeping.  Crowds  of  men,  with 
newly-shaven  heads  and  queues  beautifully  plaited,  are 
buzzing  about  like  bees.  It  is  evidently  a  gala  day 
with  them,  and  a  feast  must  be  in  store  to  give  them 
such  a  happy,  joyous  appearance.  Their  faces  are 
suffused  with  smiles,  their  black  eyes  sparkle,  and 
laughter  is  heard  from  groups  here  and  there  where 
some  amusing  subject  is  being  discussed. 

*  The  ancestral  tablets  are  oblong  pieces  of  wood  about  six  inches  in 
length  and  two  and  a  half  in  width.  The  names  of  the  deceased  are 
inscribed  upon  them  and  their  spirits  are  supposed  to  reside  in  them. 
Foods  of  various  kinds  are  offered  to  them,  but  the  real  eaters  are  the 
men  who  make  the  offerings. 


96  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

It  is  a  most  respectable-looking  gathering,  for  the 
shabby  every-day  working  clothes  have  been  discarded 
and  they  have  put  on  their  best.  A  few,  in  honour  of 
the  occasion,  are  dressed  in  semi-official  garments,  and 
the  change  in  them  is  amazing.  Here  is  one  man  so 
transformed  that  we  cannot  recognise  him.  He  is  a 
farmer,  and  to  see  him  in  his  fields  one  would  consider 
that  he  was  a  superior  kind  of  beggar,  who  by  mistake 
had  wandered  from  his  calling  and  had  turned  a  worker. 
To-day  in  his  handsome  dress,  his  mandarin -looking 
hat,  and  his  upright  and  dignified  carriage,  one  would 
easily  mistake  him  for  a  petty  official.  Another  man 
looks  like  a  prince,  so  gorgeously  is  he  robed,  and  yet 
on  other  days,  when  you  meet  him  in  his  own  house, 
he  wears  the  shabbiest  clothes,  and  will  show  you 
with  a  look  of  pride  in  his  eyes  a  worn -out -looking 
coat  that  he  has  had  in  use  for  more  than  thirty 
years . 

Suddenly  at  a  given  signal  the  hum  of  conversation 
dies  away,  and  the  broad,  good-humoured  faces  become 
sober,  whilst  ten  venerable -looking  men,  wearing  official 
hats  and  with  long  white  robes  that  hide  a  multitude 
of  sins  beneath,  gather  in  front  of  the  long  table  on 
which  the  tablets  are  placed.  These  are  the  chiefs 
of  the  various  branches  into  which  the  clan  has 
divided  since  the  founder,  centuries  ago,  gave  it  birth, 
and  to-day  they  stand  here  to  represent  the  whole. 
Two  of  these  take  their  places  at  the  ends  of  the  table, 
whilst  the  rest  remain  standing  in  front.  One  of  them 
is  about  thirty  years  of  age.  His  face  is  a  highly  intel- 
lectual one,  and  shows  signs  of  severe  study.  He  is 
pale  and  emaciated,  but  there  is  a  fire  in  his  eye  and 
a  look  of  power  on  his  face.  He  is  a  scholar  and  has 
won  his  first  degree.  His  elegant  B.A.  dress,  with  the 
handsome  hat  and  button^  makes  him  a  conspicuous 
figure  in  this  great  gathering. 

The  man  opposite  to  him  is  also  a  degree  man.  He 
has  the  typical  air  and  bearing  of  the  man  of  his  class. 
He  has  a  proud  and  insolent  look,  and  though  he  has 
to  endeavour  to  put  on  an  air  of  modesty  as  he  stands 
in  the  presence  of  the  great  men  of  his  clan,  whose 
spirits  are  believed  to  be  in  the  tablets  before  him,  one 
can  see  from  the  haughty  tilt  of  his  head  and  the  occa- 


ANCESTOR  WORSHIP  97 

sional  flash  of  his  coal-black  eyes,  that  beneath  that 
assumed  look  of  humility  there  is  a  soul  full  of  the 
deepest  pride. 

He  is  a  beau -ideal  Chinese  of  the  educated  type. 
His  cheek-bones  are  high  and  staring,  and  his  eyes 
glisten  from  behind  the  almond-shaped  slits  where  the 
black  orbs  seem  to  be  hiding  themselves.  His  mouth 
is  large  and  sensuous -looking,  whilst  his  nose  is  as 
flat  as  though  he  had  fallen  on  a  fender  when  he  was 
young  and  it  had  never  recovered  its  Grecian  shape. 
He  is  far  from  being  a  beauty,  for  his  skin  is  yellow, 
tanned  by  this  great  Eastern  sun,  so  that  every  rosy 
tint  has  been  banished  from  it.  No  wonder  that  he  is 
sallow  and  wanting  in  that  fresh  look  that  brightens 
the  faces  of  our  young  men,  for  he  has  never  seen  a 
hay-field,  and  he  has  never  caught  a  breath  of  the  breeze 
that  has  come  over  hawthorn  hedges,  nor  wandered 
through  orchards  laden  with  cherry  and  apple  blossoms. 
And  yet  there  is  a  sign  of  power  about  him  that  marks 
him  as  belonging  to  an  imperial  race,  that  has  survived 
all  the  degenerating  effects  of  a  weedy,  crazy  kind  of 
civilisation  that  has  stifled  the  energies  of  the  people 
of  this  great  country.  These  two  men  are  the  masters 
of  ceremony  for  the  day. 

There  must  be  at  least  five  hundred  men  in  the 
building,  but  not  a  single  woman.  In  the  sacrificial 
duties  of  the  day  no  woman  may  take  a  part.  By  and  by, 
a  large,  coarse -featured  man  steps  forward  from  the 
group  standing  in  front  of  the  tablets,  and,  in  obedience 
to  the  command  of  one  of  the  masters  of  the  ceremony, 
pours  some  samshu  ^  into  three  diminutive  cups.  Kneel- 
ing down  and  waving  one  of  these  between  his  uplifted 
hands,  he  says,  in  a  loud  voice,  "  Your  son  of  the  tenth 
generation  kneels  before  you  with  an  offering  of  spirits. 
Come  and  drink."  Every  dish  on  the  tables,  that 
have  been  spread  with  a  number  of  delicacies,  is 
successively  offered  until  the  spirits  are  supposed  to  be 
satiated  with  the  good  things  that  have  been  prepared 
for  them. 

After  this,  one  of  the  scholars  takes  a  long  scroll  that 

*  Samshu  is  a  kind  of  whisky  distilled  from  rice  or  sweet  potatoes  ; 
it  is  fiery  and  intoxicating,  and  quickly  flashes  fire  into  the  face  of  the 
drinker. 

7 


98  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

contains  the  names  of  all  the  families  of  the  clan,  with 
the  numbers  of  sons  in  each,  and  reads  it  for  the  benefit 
of  the  dead  fathers.  Not  a  woman's  name  is  mentioned 
throughout  it.  She  has  no  official  status  in  the  clan, 
for  every  girl  that  is  born  into  it  is  considered  as  so 
much  lost  to  it,  for  in  the  course  of  time  she  will  have 
to  be  married  into  some  other  clan,  and  so  can  never 
be  considered  as  adding  to  the  strength  of  her  own.  At 
the  conclusion  of  this  dry,  statistical  process  the  docu- 
ment is  committed  to  the  flames,  and  it  is  thus  supposed 
to  go  straight  to  the  **  Land  of  Shadows,"  where  the 
fathers  live,  for  them  to  study  it  at  their  leisure  during 
the  next  six  months. 

The  last  and  concluding  act  of  this  weird  ceremony 
was  a  very  striking  one.  At  the  call  of  one  of  the 
masters  of  ceremony  every  m^n  in  the  building  knelt 
down  and  knocked  his  head  on  the  ground  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  tablets.  There  was  no  attempt  to  minimise 
this  part  of  the  service,  for  the  sound  of  five  hundred 
heads  bumping  against  the  earthen  floor  was  distinct 
and  emphatic.  Even  the  little  fellows  who  accompanied 
their  fathers  took  a  share  in  this,  and  thus,  in  the 
midst  of  the  men  of  their  clan,  they  were  initiated  into 
a  service  that  would  leave  an  indelible  impression 
on  their  hearts  and  make  them  consider  ancestor 
worship  as  the  supreme  one  in  which  they  were  to 
believe. 

With  the  five  distinct  bumps  upon  the  ground  that 
would  have  made  the  heads  of  any  other  people  but  the 
Chinese  sore  and  groggy,  the  worship  ended,  and  an 
immediate  move  was  made  towards  the  tables  that 
groaned  with  all  the  good  things  that  the  ingenuity  of 
the  best  cooks  could  provide.  And  here  the  company 
was  seen  at  its  best.  If  there  is  anything  a  Chinese 
puts  his  soul  into  it  is  a  feast.  It  is  looked  forward  to 
as  Christmas  is  with  us.  Visions  of  succulent  pork  and 
snow-white  rice,  and  pickled  cucumber,  sharp  and  crisp, 
that  will  succumb  beneath  the  teeth  with  a  sound  that 
is  enough  in  itself  to  give  an  appetite,  besides  a  host 
of  other  delicacies,  such  as  chickens,  ducks,  bird's -nest 
soup  and  such  like,  all  float  before  his  delighted  imagi- 
nation up  to  the  very  moment  that  he  sits  down  to  the 
feast.     And  when  the  actual  moment  of  bliss  arrives 


ANCESTOR  WORSHIP  99 

with  what  gusto  does  he  not  enter  into  the  spirit  of 
the  occasion  I  There  is  no  toying  and  dallying  with  the 
dishes.  Every  one  has  to  be  tasted,  for  his  capacity 
seems  to  grow  with  the  demand  made  upon  him.  The 
memory  of  this  feast  will  last  him'  until  it  has  been 
effaced  by  another,  and  one  of  the  pleasantest  thoughts 
about  it  will  be  the  feeling  that  it  was  all  got  at 
another's  expense.  It  is  said  that  the  Spartans  held  that 
hunger  was  the  best  sauce^  but  they  were  fools  to  the 
Chinese,  who  consider  that  to  partake  of  a  feast  that 
they  have  not  had  to  pay  for  is  one  of  the  greatest 
stimulants  to  a  good  appetite  that  they  could  possibly 
desire.  For  some  minutes  the  great  assemblage  was 
silent.  The  only  sounds  were  the  clicking  of  chopsticks 
and  the  peculiar  sighing  of  the  indrawn  breaths  by 
which  the  Chinese  cool  the  hot  mouthfuls  of  rice  which 
they  shovel  reeking  down  their  throats.  iWe  should 
consider  this  last  very  vulgar,  but  the  Chinese  look 
upon  it  as  sweet  music  to  hasten  on  the  march  of  the 
disappearing  rice. 

After  a  time,  when  the  first  keen  pangs  of  hunger 
had  been  assuaged  and  the  edge  of  the  appetite  had 
been  taken  off,  low  and  gentle  murmurs  of  conversation 
began  to  be  heard.  By  and  by  as  the  hot  samshu  began 
to  work,  and  the  faces  became  flushed,  a  babel  of 
voices  filled  the  temple,  for  every  tongue  had  become 
loosened,  and  the  imagination  was  beginning  to  run  riot 
under  the  influence  of  the  good  things  on  which  they 
were  feasting.  Hours  went  by  without  any  signs  of 
weariness.  The  thought  of  this  great  feast  was  to  last 
them  for  six  months,  and  so  they  clung  to  the  tables 
and  quaffed  the  hot,  fragrant  spirit  from  the  dainty 
little  cups,  and  dallied  with  the  various  dishes,  till  at 
last,  worn  out,  they  laid  their  chopsticks  on  the  table 
and  confessed  their  inability  to  eat  any  more. 

Some  few  with  stronger  appetites  lingered  with  the 
chopsticks  held  with  deft  and  knowing  hands  and 
appealed  to  others  who  had  been  beaten  in  the  contest 
to  come  and  join  them,  but  these  piteously  shook  their 
heads,  and  with  a  significant  motion  up  and  down  their 
stomachs  with  their  open  hand,  declared  that  they  were 
*'  full."  This  word  with  us  is  vulgar  and  never 
used    in    polite    society.      Not    so    in    China,    where 


100    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

it  is  a  highly  popular  and  refined  expression 
and  indicates  a  happy  condition  where  the  highest 
material  happiness  has  been  attained.  When  the 
Chinese  wishes  to  say  *'  How  do  you  do?  "  he  does 
not  use  the  vague  expressions  we  are  content  with.  He 
comes  to  the  point  and  says  **  Have  you  eaten?  "  You 
say,  '*  Yes,  have  you?  "  He  nods  a  '*  Yes."  Then  mutual 
smiles  light  up  the  faces  of  both  parties,  for  they 
know  that  the  sammum  bonum  has  for  the  time 
being  been  attained  and  Fate  has  little  power  to 
harm  them. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  whole  system  of  ancestor 
worship  owes  its  present  existence  in  a  very  large 
measure  to  these  feasts,  and  that  if  they  were 
abolished  it  would  be  very  much  shorn  of  its 
significance. 

The  cult  has  been  perpetuated  and  intensified  by  these 
feasts.  The  founders  and  chiefs  of  the  clan  were  evi- 
dently conscious  that  it  would  require  something  more 
than  mere  sentiment  to  make  their  descendants  re- 
member them  after  they  were  dead.  They  consequently 
left  endowments,  in  the  shape  of  public  lands,  that  were 
to  be  used  for  paying  all  expenses  connected  with  the 
worship  of  them.  In  order  to  prevent  the  absorption  of 
these  properties  by  future  powerful  members  of  the 
clan,  it  was  decreed  that  they  should  be  held  in  rotation 
by  the  different  branches,  who  were  allowed  to  appro- 
priate to  their  own  private  use  whatever  sums  remained 
after  all  the  expenses  connected  with  this  worship  had 
been  met.  The  founders  thus  appealed  not  only  to 
the  religious  instincts  of  the  tribe,  but  also  to  their 
passions. 

Every  member  of  the  clan  has  a  personal  interest  in 
the  matter.  The  feasts  copie  to  him  free,  and  when 
his  turn  comes  round,  he  has  the  handling  of  the  pro- 
ceeds of  this  ecclesiastical  endowment.  The  system 
has  thus  become  rooted  in  the  hearts  of  the  Chinese 
through  the  selfish  interest  they  have  had  in  it.  Take 
away  the  lands  and  abolish  the  feasts,  and  in  time  belief 
in  the  dead  would  be  greatly  modified  and  the  regular 
worship  of  the  clan,  at  least,  would  gradually  die  out. 
China  is  not  the  only  country  in  the  world  where  en- 
dowments have  been  the  means  of  perpetuating  systems 


ANCESTOR  WORSHIP  101 

and  of  fostering  customs  that  have  not  always  been  for 
the  highest  good  of  the  nation. 

With  the  ending  of  the  feast  the  great  assembly 
begins  gradually  to  melt  away.  Singly  and  in  groups 
the  men  that  sat  round  the  festal  board  and  filled  the 
great  hall  with  the  sound  of  their  happy  voices  wind  their 
way  along  the  narrow  pathways  through  the  fields  to 
their  various  homes.  The  official-looking  hats  that  gave 
them  such  a  dignified  air,  and  the  clothes  that  took 
away  the  mean  and  shabby  look  of  their  every -day 
appearance  are  taken  off  and  carefully  laid  away  in 
some  box  where  the  dust  cannot  reach  them,  until  they 
may  be  required  for  some  other  festive  occasion.  In 
the  meanwhile  the  great  hall  has  been  closed,  the  remains 
of  the  feast  have  been  removed  by  that  branch  of 
the  clan  whose  business  it  is  this  year  to  arrange 
for  the  offerings  to  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  and 
the  few  dozen  tablets  that  have  the  honour  of  being 
worshipped  by  the  clan  are  left  in  solitude  for  six 
months  more. 

In  this  semi-annual  service  there  are  no  elements  of 
poetry  nor  romance.  It  is  entirely  a  mere  matter  of 
business.  No  spirit  of  love  or  of  affection  has  caused 
the  gathering  that  has  met  here  to-day  to  perform  the 
ceremony  just  described.  Most  of  the  spirits  left  the 
earth  at  least  a  hundred  years  ago  or  so.  The  men 
of  to-day  have  lost  touch  with  them.  What  kind  of 
men  they  were  no  one  knows  nor,  for  that  matter,  cares. 
There  is  one  profound  impression,  however,  that  binds 
the  living  to  them,  and  that  is  that  in  that  unseen  world 
those  shadowy,  misty  forms,  that  once  lived  here  and 
tilled  the  fields  and  lived  the  common  life  of  to-day, 
have  in  some  mysterious  way  been  transformed  so  that 
they  hold  the  fate  of  their  descendants  in  their  hands. 
Whatever  tenderness  they  may  have  had  in  actual  life 
has  evidently  been  crushed  out  of  them  by  their  sad  and 
bitter  experiences  in  the  dark  world  in  which  they 
now  live.  This  latter  is  supposed  to  be  a  facsimile 
of  the  present,  only  with  all  the  joyous  elements  elimi- 
nated, and  with  the  main  features  of  this  following  them 
like  a  Nemesis  into  that.  The  poor  spirit  never  finds 
itself  suddenly  transformed  into  a  wealthy  one,  but  the 
same  struggle  that  it  had  here  goes  on,  though  more 


102    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

intensely,  in  the  new  life,  where  no  sun  ever  shines,  and 
a  perpetual  gloom  crushes  all  joy  out  of  the  heart. 
The  man  who  has  been  beheaded  walks  about  for  ever 
a  headless  ghost.  His  lot  is  one  of  the  most  pitiable 
of  all,  for  he  can  have  no  human  companionship,  and 
he  can  never  express  the  thoughts  that  wander  through 
his  heart,  whilst  the  voice  of  sympathy  can  never  ease 
the  unending  pain  of  his  existence. 

Now  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  Chinese  believe 
that  the  innumerable  hosts  that  dwell  in  that  clouded 
land  are  absolutely  dependent  upon  their  friends  in  this 
for  any  comforts  they  possess  there.  The  food  they 
eat  and  the  money  they  have  to  spend  all  come  from 
earth,  and  are  transmitted  through  the  annual 
offerings  that  are  made  to  them.  Any  cessation  means 
suffering  to  the  spirits,  and,  sullen  and  enraged  at  the 
neglect,  they  send  misery  and  calamity  upon  the  home 
of  their  friends. 

This  thought  is  so  deeply  ingrained  in  the  nation  that 
the  Chinese  have  actually  arranged  a  separate  festival 
for  the  spirits  in  Hades  that  have  no  living  friends  on 
earth,  and  who,  therefore^  are  left  hungry  and  uncared 
for  in  that  dark  land.  During  the  month  of  August, 
the  whole  empire,  by  an  almost  unanimous  consent,  lays 
out  tables  in  the  open  air  with  all  the  various  kinds  of 
food  that  the  Chinese  delight  in  for  the  special  benefit 
of  the  hungry  spirits  that  the  presiding  god  of  Hades 
lets  out  for  this  month.  They  are  thus  supposed  to  be 
propitiated  by  the  kindness  of  mortals  and  to  be  induced 
to  refrain  from  using  their  supernatural  powers  to  dis- 
tress mankind. 

The  worship  of  the  dead  at  the  grave,  whilst  it  still 
has  the  commercial  character  in  it,  is  of  a  much  more 
kindly  nature  than  that  performed  in  the  great  ancestral 
hall.  The  reason  for  this  is  obvious.  The  friends  that 
lie  buried  there  are  of  a  nearer  kinship,  and  the  loss  of 
them  is  generally  more  recent.  Some  loved  one  has 
been  taken  from  the  home,  and  the  sorrowing  hearts, 
full  of  agony  at  their  loss,  come  with  tears  that  flow 
naturally  and  with  loud  and  passionate  outcries  to  bewail 
their  loss.  And  it  is  not  simply  at  stated  times  that  the 
mourners  come  to  these  graves  to  unburden  their  hearts 
of  the  sorrows  that  fill  them.     A  husband,  for  example, 


ANCESTOR  WORSHIP  103 

has  died.  He  was  only  just  in  the  prime  of  life.  He 
and  his  wife  were  devotedly  attached  to  each  other, 
though  none  would  have  dreamt  of  it  had  they  simply 
seen  them  in  every-day  life.  Etiquette  in  China  de- 
mands that  neither  husband  nor  wife  shall  show  before 
others  any  sign  whatever  that  they  love  one  another. 
Well,  the  husband  one  day  is  attacked  by  one  of  those 
maladies  that  in  these  Eastern  lands  run  their  course 
so  rapidly,  and,  before  the  wife  has  time  to  realise  that 
danger  threatens,  her  husband  is  dead. 

And  now  what  a  change  takes  place  1  It  would  seem 
as  fhough  the  great  fountains  of  the  woman's  heart 
had  burst  all  bounds  and  were  pouring  forth  treasures 
that  it  had  been  hiding  for  years.  The  restraints  that 
society  had  put  upon  her  when  her  husband  was  alive 
have  now  vanished  with  his  death,  and  she  indulges  in 
the  most  passionate  expressions  of  devotion  that  ^ny 
woman  East  or  West,  with  the  wildest  or  the  deepest 
love,  could  ever  imagine.  Her  cries  are  uttered  in  the 
presence  of  her  neighbours — who.  Oriental -like,  gather 
round  to  witness  what  is  going  on — and  are  full  of 
the  fondest  terms  of  endearment,  yet  no  one  dreams 
of  suggesting  that  they  are  unwomanly.  The  human 
heart  beats  with  the  same  musical  rhythm  throughout 
the  world,  and,  though  custom  may  crush  and  stifle 
the  tones  that  God  has  given  it,  there  must  inevitably 
come  a  time  when  Nature  shall  assert  herself  and  the 
cry  of  the  soul  shall  be  heard. 

It  is  most  pathetic  to  stand  by  the  grave  and  listen  to 
what  might  be  called  the  love  song  of  the  widow  to  her 
dead  husband.  One  day  I  was  walking  by  a  hillside 
that  was  literally  packed  with  graves.  The  solemn - 
looking  little  mounds  were  drawn  so  closely  together 
that  there  was  hardly  standing  room  between  them. 
Some  were  newly-made,  as  could  be  seen  by  the  fresh 
mould  and  the  newly -cut  sod  with  which  they  were 
covered.  Others  again  showed  signs  of  age,  for  the 
rains  and  winds  had  beaten  them  down  till  they  were 
almost  flat,  whilst  tall,  sedgy  grasses  grew  rankly  out 
of  their  very  centre.  It  was  a  venerable  cemetery,  for 
I  could  see  from  one  or  two  slight  projections  that  were 
quite  marked  that  one  or  two  tiers  of  dead  lay  buried 
beneath  those  that  occupied  the  graves  that  lay  open 


104    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

to  our  sight.     There  must  have  been  thousands  lying 
asleep   on  that  hillside. 

Whilst  I  was  revolving  in  my  mind  the  thoughts 
suggested  by  the  scene  before  me,  a  woman  suddenly, 
appeared  winding  her  way  in  and  out  amongst  the 
graves,  until  she  stopped  and  knelt  down  before  one 
that  had  been  but  recently  made.  She  was  tall  and 
graceful,  with  a  face  that,  if  it  had  been  lighted  up 
with  a  smile,  would  have  been  a  most  pleasant  one. 
Just  now,  however,  it  was  inexpressibly  sad,  and  sorrow 
had  laid  its  heavy  hand  upon  it.  I  knew  at  once  that 
she  was  a  widow,  for  she  was  in  deep  mourning.  I 
saw,  too,  that  she  had  come  to  weep  out  her  heartache 
at  the  tomb  of  her  husband.  She  began  by  moaning* 
in  a  low  monotone,  as  though  her  sorrow  was  too 
great  to  allow  of  articulate  utterance.  By  and  by  her 
voice  rose,  with  passionate  exclamations  of  *'  My  misery, 
oh  !  how  great  I  how  miserable  my  fate  !  my  life,  I 
cannot  bear  it.  Oh  !  I  must  die,  I  must  die,  I  cannot 
endure  my  misery."  Still  her  voice  continued  to  rise 
as  her  grief  seemed  to  get  control  of  her,  and  then 
she  began  to  pour  out  the  tragedy  of  her  life,  and  to 
weave  in  fitful  agonising  words  the  story  of  her  loss. 
"  My  love,  my  life  I  why,  why  have  you  left  me?  My 
heart  is  desolate,  and  I  wander  about  bereft  of  comfort 
with  none  that  can  speak  to  me  and  with  none  whose 
words  can  touch  me  as  yours  ever  did.  Why  did  you 
leave,  ah  !  why  did  you  leave  me  with  a  broken  heart?  '* 
As  the  full  force  of  her  sorrow  seemed  to  come  with  an 
overmastering  power  as  she  recited  her  woes,  her  voice 
took  a  note  higher,  till  it  sounded  wild  and  weird. 
Tears  are  now  rolling  down  her  cheeks  and  her  eyes 
are  red  and  swollen  ;  she  seems  the  very  image  of 
despair  and  sorrow.  Again  she  calls  upon  her  husband 
to  witness  her  grief,  and  every  endearing  word  that  a 
woman's  heart  knows  how  to  conjure  up  is  poured  forth 
upon  the  man  that  lies  silent  in  the  grave  before  her. 
Ah  !  she  appears  to  me  no  longer  to  be  the  Chinese 
woman  whose  heart  seems  so  difficult  to  touch  by  the 
power  of  love,  the  fire  of  which  has  never  inflamed  it 
into  a  burning  passion.  She  must  be  some  sorrowful 
woman  who  has  wandered  hither  from  another  land 
where  natures  are  more  fiery  ;    where  the  human  soul 


ANCESTOR  WORSHIP  105 

is  filled  with  poetry  and  romance  ;  and  where  love  is 
the  one  divine  force  that  with  its  mystic  touch  can  set 
the  soul  ablaze.  But  no,  there  is  no  mistaking  that  she 
is  a  true  daughter  of  this  ancient  land,  where  custom 
and  etiquette  have  striven  for  ages  to  teach  the  souls 
of  men  and  women  to  conceal  their  deepest  and  divinest 
emotions. 

In  this  most  pathetic  but  most  dramatic  scene  there 
was  one  thing  that  was  most  noticeable.  In  all  the 
passionate  appeals  to  her  dead  husband  as  to  why 
he  had  left  her  to  sorrow  and  despair,  she  never  once 
suggests  the  idea  that  she  hopes  one  day  to  meet  him 
in  the  future.  Such  a  thought  does  not  occur  to  the 
Chinese  mind.  The  husband  has  left  her,  and  never 
more  will  she  behold  him  again  ;  thus  the  bitterness 
of  the  separation  that  fills  her  heart  with  anguish. 
He  has  g^one  for  ever  out  of  her  life,  and  wherever 
she  may  wander  when  she  has  done  with  the  things  of 
this  world  she  will  never  by  any  chance  meet  him 
again. 

And  now  occurred  a  pleasing  break  in  this  most 
sad  and  touching  scene.  Two  young  English  girls,  who 
were  skipping  and  racing  about  after  each  other  amongst 
the  graves,  caught  sight  of  the  weeping  woman,  and, 
drawn  by  sympathy,  approached  with  wondering  faces 
and  stood  listening  to  her  sorrowful  story.  By  and 
by,  touched  beyond  control  by  the  sight  of  her  tears 
and  by  the  agonised  look  upon  her  face,  they  started 
impulsively  forward  and  stood  on  either  side  of  her. 
*'  You  must  stop  crying  now,"  they  said,  **  you  have 
wept  enough  for  to-day.  You  will  make  yourself  ill 
if  you  go  on  in  this  way,"  and  gently  taking  her  by 
the  arms  they  helped  her  to  rise.  The  woman  looked 
amazed,  but  seeing  the  frank  young  faces  and  the 
look  of  genuine  sympathy  upon  them,  she  accepted  their 
interference  in  a  kindly  spirit  and  after  a  few  pleasant 
words  she  slowly  left  the  grave  and  returned  to  her 
home. 

The  dead  and  the  living  are  bound  together  by  the 
mysterious  worship  of  ancestors  ;  but  the  living  have 
only  a  memory,  for  there  is  no  future  for  them  in  their 
thoughts  of  the  loved  ones  that  have  perished.  No 
sage  has  ever  been  able  to  suggest  a  thought  on  this 


106    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

dark  subject,  and  no  independent  genius  in  all  the 
ages  of  the  past  has  ever  in  a  moment  of  inspiration 
thrown  a  gleam  of  light  upon  it.  The  nation  has  been 
waiting  for  the  revelation  that  will  come  when  Chris- 
tianity has  opened  up  to  them  the  wonders  and  mysteries 
of  the  future. 


CHAPTER    VIII 

FENGSHUI 

The  physical  world  to  the  Chinese  is  not  the  dead, 
inanimate  thing  that  it  is  to  us.  We  look  upon  a  land- 
scape, and  we  see  mountains  and  streams  and  fertile 
plains,  dotted  with  villages  and  yellow  with  the  ripen- 
ing crops,  and  when  we  have  mastered  the  scene  in  all 
its  details  we  have  exhausted  all  that  in  a  general 
way  it  is  possible  for  us  to  know  about  it.  It  is  not 
so  with  the  student  of  Nature  in  this  land.  To  him 
the  mountains  are  not  the  solitary  places  we  imagine 
them  to  be,  where  the  footfall  of  the  stray  traveller, 
the  whirr  of  the  wings  of  the  flying  birds,  or  the  musical 
hum  of  the  falling  streams  are  the  only  sounds  that 
break  the  monotonous  silence  of  the  hills.  To  his 
imagination  they  are  peopled  with  fairies,  not  indeed 
of  the  light-hearted  kind  that  our  forefathers  pictured 
as  dancing  in  the  moonlight  in  forest  glades,  or  by 
the  wooded  streams  that  send  their  music  far  over  the 
hills,  but  venerable  and  sedate,  with  long,  grey  beards 
and  wrinkled  faces  and  thoughtful  looks. 

The  great  valleys  again,  where  the  gloomy  pines 
grow  amidst  the  shadows  that  are  rarely  lighted  by  a 
passing  sunbeam,  are  said  to  be  peopled  by  forms  that 
sometimes  may  be  seen  as  the  twilight  creeps  into  the 
departing  day,  or  when  the  silver  moonlight  illumi- 
nates the  forest.  All  these  mix  themselves  in  human 
affairs,  and  many  a  romance  in  life  that  has  changed 
the  fortunes  of  men  and  brought  sunshine  into  their 
homes  might  be  traced  to  these  kindly  beings  that  shrink 
from  the  sight  of  man. 

Besides  these  benevolent  spirits  that  plan  for  human 
happiness,  there  are  demons  and  spirits  that  wander 
about  in  search  of  opportunities  to  deceive  and  injure 

107 


108    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

mankind.  They  will  turn  themselves  into  all  kinds  of 
shapes  in  order  the  more  easily  to  carry  out  their 
fell  purpose.  Sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  St.  Dunstan, 
they  will  appear  in  the  form  of  a  most  beautiful  woman, 
and  at  another  as  an  aged  man  with  kindly  face  and 
words  full  of  tenderness.  Many  a  life  has  been  wrecked 
by  the,m  and  many  a  fortune  has  vanished  through 
their   cunning  wiles. 

The  imagination  of  the  Chinese  does  not  stop  with 
the  creation  of  these  hosts  of  spirits,  both  good  and 
bad.  It  has  also  conceived  the  idea  that  beyond  all 
these  things  there  are  certain  invisible  forces  that 
exercise  a  most  potent  influence  over  the  fortunes  of 
men.  They  can  bring  wealth,  or  sorrow.  They  can 
afflict  a  district  with  disaster,  or  they  can  bless  it 
with  prosperity.  They  can  send  floods  that  shall  drown 
the  crops  and  leave  men  to  starve,  or  they  can  send  the 
gentle  showers  that  will  cause  the  fields  to  smile  with 
harvests  and  fill  the  homes  with  plenty. 

These  forces  are  a  profound  mystery.  No  one  can 
describe  what  they  are  like,  nor  precisely  where  they 
reside.  They  move  about  by  laws  of  their  own.  Some- 
times they  wind  along  a  valley,  and  then  they  rush 
madly  over  a  plain.  They  creep  up  the  sides  of  a 
mountain  and  take  possession  of  the  very  summit.  They 
rush  round  the  headlands  by  the  seashore  with  a  noise 
that  is  like  the  roaring  of  the  storm,  and  they  claim 
to  control,  in  some  mysterious  way,  the  fortunes  of 
both  the  living  and  the  dead.  There  is  no  question  but 
that  fengshui  is  one  of  the  most  potent  supernatural 
forces  in  China,  and  has  done  more  to  prevent  its 
growth  and  development  than  any  other.  The  Chinese 
have  reduced  fengshui  to  a  science,  and  there  is  a 
class  of  men  who  get  a  very  comfortable  living  by 
professing  to  know  its  principles  and  to  be  able  to 
apply  these  to  the  practical  questions  of  every-day  life. 

From  a  long  experience  of  this  mysterious  subject, 
it  would  seem  that  the  primary  object  of  fengshui  is 
not  to  bless  but  to  injure.  It  is  a  malignant,  haughty, 
bad-tempered  force  that  will  work  havoc  in  human 
life,  unless  diverted  by  some  other  that  proves  superior 
to  it,  and  then  its  cursing  power  seems  to  vanish  and 
it  stays  to  bless.     Every  city,  therefore,  in  the  empire. 


F^NGSHUI  109 

and  every  great  plain  has  selected  in  self-defence  some 
natural  object  that  is  to  act  as  its  guardian  against 
their  invisible  enemy,  and  which  for  the  sake  of  brevity 
they  call  their  fengshui.  When  this  object  has  a  resem- 
blance to  any  living  form,  it  is  considered  to  be  very 
powerful. 

The  fengshui,  for  example,  of  a  certain  county  city 
is  a  large  piece  of  ground  that  gradually  slopes  from 
the  suburbs  in  the  direction  of  the  centre  of  the  town, 
and  has  the  shape  of  a  snail.  This  strange  conforma- 
tion is  looked  upon  as  the  source  of  all  the  prosperity 
and  happiness  that  have  come  to  the  city.  It  has  the 
power,  it  is  affirmed,  of  gathering  all  the  baleful  influ- 
ences that  the  fengshui  would  scatter  broadcast  over 
the  town  within  itself,  and  of  transforming  them  into 
blessings.  When  a  new  mandarin  arrives  in  the  city 
to  take  office,  his  first  public  duty  is  to  go  in  state  to 
this  venerable  snail  and  give  directions  about  its  preser- 
vation, for  he  believes  that  not  only  the  welfare  of 
the  town  and  district,  but  also  his  own  honour  and 
reputation  are  bound  up  in  it.  No  spade  may  ever 
cut  into  it  and  woe  be  to  the  man  who  would  have  the 
temerity  to  build  on  it!  He  would  be  ruthlessly 
murdered  by  an  affrighted  and  indignant  population. 
The  city  has  a  high  reputation  amongst  mandarins, 
and  officials  come  here  with  light  hearts  to  enter  upon 
their  duties.  It  is  said  that  for  many  generations  no 
magistrate  has  ever  got  into  any  trouble  here.  No 
one  has  ever  been  accused  by  the  people  to  his  superior, 
nor  deprived  of  his  office  ;  neither  has  any  disaster 
happened  to  him  in  his  government  of  the  people. 
When  his  term  of  office  has  expired  he  has  returned 
to  his  far-off  home  in  another  province  with  health 
and  honour.  All  this  has  been  put  down  to  the  silent 
influences  of  the  humble  mound  that  watches  so 
vigilantly  over  the  interests  of  the  city.  In  very  many 
cases  Nature  has  been  kind  enough  to  supply  some 
conformation  of  land,  or  some  notable  rock  that  the 
professors  of  geomancy,  after  long  consideration  and 
an  infinite  amount  of  twaddle,  have  pronounced  capable 
of  defending  a  place  from  the  fiercest  assaults  of  the 
invisible  foe.  It  does  happen,  sometimes,  that  a  town 
has  no  natural  fengshui  of   its  own.     This   difficulty 


no  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

must  be  at  once  met  by,  the  creation  of  an  artificial 
one.  The  idea  of  a  city,  without  any  would  be  as 
intolerable  as  it  would  be  to  allow  it  to  be  without  walls, 
whilst  hosts  of  bloodthirsty  marauders  were  known  to 
exist  in  every  direction  around  it. 

A  city  in  the  South  of  China  was  at  one  time  in  its 
history  the  subject  of  a  succession  of  disasters  that 
were  bringing  it  to  the  verge  of  ruin.  Pestilence  carried 
off  its  people,  and  floods  and  droughts  brought  sorrows 
that  were  reducing  its  inhabitants  to  despair.  Men 
began  to  look  around  to  discover  the  cause  of  these 
calamities,  and  it  was  found  that  the  town  had  no 
fengshui.  Of  course,  it  now  became  quite  easy  to 
explain  how  it  was  that  plague  made  such  ravages  in 
its  narrow  streets  and  filthy  alleyways.  It  was  not 
caused  by  bad  sanitation,  nor  by  the  absence  of 
drainage.  It  was  the  work  of  malign  forces  that  were 
quite  free  to  work  their  evil  purpose  on  the  city. 

The  most  celebrated  professors  of  the  art  of 
geomancy  were  invited  to  devise  plans  for  meeting  this 
difficulty,  and  they  suggested  that  two  immense  pagodas 
should  be  built  within  the  walls  of  the  city,  one  on 
the  east  and  the  other  on  the  west.  This  was  accord- 
ingly done,  all  classes  contributing  liberally  towards 
the  expense.  The  pagodas  towered  above  the  streets 
and  lands  that  lay  within  sight  of  them,  and  the  people, 
dwelling  beneath  their  shadow,  felt  themselves  safe 
against  the  attack  of  demons  and  spirits  that  fled  dis- 
mayed as  they  caught  a  glimpse  of  these  mighty  forms. 
To-day  the  city  is  a  flourishing  one.  Its  streets  are 
crowded  with  traders  from  all  parts  of  the  province, 
and  the  fame  of  its  scholars  has  travelled  far  and  wide 
throughout  the  empire,  all  due,  it  is  believed,  to  the 
mighty  power  exercised  by  these  two  stately  pagodas. 

Thus  far  we  have  been  dealing  with  fengshui  as  a 
power  that  has  to  do  with  living  forces.  It  has  a 
function,  however,  more  dread  and  far-reaching  in  con- 
nection with  the  dead.  The  Chinese  believe  that  these 
latter  have  the  power  of  blessing  or  cursing  the  friends 
they  have  left  behind  them  on  earth,  but  that  they 
can  do  either  only  through  the  agency  of  the  unseen 
forces  that  cluster  around  the  places  where  they  lie 
buried.     It  is  believed  that  these  forces  are  materially 


FENGSHUI  111 

assisted  in  their  action  by  the  conformation  of  the 
ground  in  which  the  dead  have  been  buried.  If  it  has 
the  shape  of  some  well-known  powerful  animal,  then 
the  fengshui  of  the  place  is  considered  to  be  especially 
strong,  and  the  family  of  the  dead  who  are  buried  near 
it  will  have  great  prosperity.  Sons  will  be  born  and 
wealth  will  flow  in  upon  it.  A  crouching  tiger,  for 
example,  of  which  there  are  numerous  instances  in  any 
hilly  country,  is  eagerly  seized  upon  as  a  burying- 
place.  The  tiger,  to  the  Chinese  mind,  is  the  king  of 
beasts,  and  holds  its  own  supreme  amongst  any  others 
that  are  known.  S,uch  figures  as  this  are  supposed  to 
be  impregnated  in  a  very  powerful  way  with  the  fengshui 
elements  that  render  its  influence  in  human  life 
irresistible.  A  grave  near  its  head,  or  close  by  one  of 
its  paws,  is  considered  to  be  a  place  where  unusual 
power  is  exerted,  and,  consequently,  the  family  of  the 
deceased  may  expect  in  a  very  short  time  to  have  its 
fortunes  changed  and  a  tide  of  prosperity  to  flow  in 
upon  it.  As  might  have  been  expected,  those  who 
have  the  means  to  afford  it  spare  no  expense  in  the 
selection  and  purchase  of  spots  where  the  fengshui 
is  the  most  powerful.  The  cleverest  geomancers  are 
engaged  to  find  out  the  particular  localities  that  are 
most  likely  to  bring  fortunes  to  the  family.  .With 
compass  in  hand,  they  note  the  lie  of  the  hills  and 
running  streams,  and  the  trend  of  the  land  ;  they  then 
mark  with  a  measuring-line  the  exact  place,  to  within 
an  inch,  where  the  dead  man  is  to  be  laid.  Fearful 
lest  their  instructions  should  in  the  least  degree  be 
departed  from,  they  stand  by  whilst  the  grave  is  being 
dug  -and  see  that  there  is  no  departure  from  the 
geomantic  line  that  has  been  drawn. 

Very  often  a  rich  man  will  lie  in  his  coffin  for  months, 
waiting  for  the  discovery  of  some  place  where  the 
fengshui  is  strong.  The  poor,  of  course,  have  to  bury 
where  they  can,  and  quickly  too,  as  their  means  will 
not  allow  them  to  purchase  these  expensive  burying 
lots  ;  neither  would  it  be  convenient  for  them  to  permit 
the  dead  to  remain  unburied  for  any  considerable  time. 
When  a  place  has  been  discovered  that  is  found  to 
enrich  the  family  that  owns  it,  desperate  attempts  are 
offen  made  by  stronger  clans  to  wrest  it  from  them. 


112    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

Some  of  the  fiercest  and  most  deadly  feuds  that  have 
turned  a  certain  district  into  a  battlefield,  where  hun- 
dreds on  each  side  have  come  out  to  wage  war  upon 
each  other,  have  been  stirred  up  by  the  desire  to  possess 
some  piece  of  land  that  the  geomancers  have  said  will 
bring  wealth  and  honour  to  those  who  possess  it.  It 
is  an  extraordinary  fact,  however,  that,  until  a  man 
has  been  buried  in  the  ground,  it  is  of  no  more  value 
than  the  commonest  lot  of  land  in  the  district.  It  is 
only  when  it  has  been  turned  into  a  grave  that  the 
spirits  awake  to  a  sense  of  the  power  they  possess  of 
enriching  or  of  injuring  human  life. 

An  illustration  of  what  I  mean  by  these  lucky  spots 
will  explain  my  meaning  better  than  any  amount  of 
description.  The  case  is  that  of  a  Chinese  merchant 
who  is  exceedingly  wealthy.  His  business  transactions 
are  always  on  a  large  scale,  and  he  is  noted  for  the 
keenness  with  which  he  can  make  a  bargain  and  his 
foresight  in  seeing  what  goods  are  likely  to  have  a 
good  sale  and  bring  in  large  profits.  He  has  a  large 
and  powerful  physique,  and  an  overmastering,  brow- 
beating manner  with  him,  that  makes  it  unpleasant  to 
have  any  discussion  with  him  on  matters  upon  which 
he  does  not  agree  with  you.  Fifty  years  ago  his  family 
was  a  poor  one.  It  lived  in  a  low,  mean  house,  and  the 
few  little  fields  it  owned  were  barely  sufficient  to  meet 
the  commonest  wants  of  every-day  life.  About  that 
time  the  English  ships  approached  Amoy  with  the 
purpose  of  bombarding  the  forts  that  defended  it.  The 
common  people  were  in  the  wildest  alarm,  for  the  most 
outrageous  stories  had  been  circulated  by  the  mandarins 
as  to  the  ferocity  of  the  English.  They  were  repre- 
sented as  having  a  savage  thirst  for  human  blood. 
They  would  gouge  out  children's  eyes  and  tear  men 
limb  from  limb  with  insane  delight.  Every  one  that 
could  fly  did  so,  and  amongst  these  was  the  family  of 
the  man  I  am  describing.  Just  before  they  fled  his 
father  died  and,  in  the  hurry  and  confusion,  a  grave  was 
dug  by  the  roadside  and  the  body  was  hastily  interred. 

After  a  time  it  was  found  that  the  English  were  by. 
no  means  the  monsters  they  had  been  represented,  and 
the  family  I  have  referred  to  returned  tO:  their  deserted 
home.     The  son   now  engaged  a,  geomancer  to  find 


FENGSHUI  113 

for  him  a  lucky  spot  where  he  might  bury  his  father, 
in  the  hope  that  he  would  bring  prosperity  upon  the 
home  that  he  had  left  in  such  poverty.  I  may  explain 
that  the  original  place  where  he  was  buried  was  at 
the  junction  of  three  roads,  one  of  them  being  the 
main  one,  the  other  two  branching  off  diagonally  from 
it.  When  the  geomancer  came  to  examine  the  spot 
>^ere  the  father  lay,  he  started  back  with  astonish- 
ment, and  said  :  *'  You  do  not  need  to  select  any  other 
place.  You  have  accidentally  lighted  upon  a  situation 
where  the  fengshui  elements  are  exceedingly  powerful, 
and  you  will  find  that,  ere  long,  your  family  will  emerge 
out  of  its  poverty,  and  you  will  be  a  wealthy  man. 
Look  at  the  two  roads,"  he  continued,  "  that  diverge 
from  this  spot.  With  the  main  road  they  represent 
exactly  a  huge  pair  of  scissors.  Your  father  is  buried 
at  the  strongest  point  of  them,  viz.,  where  the  button 
rivets  the  two  blades  together.  He  lies  in  the  very 
place  of  power,  and  all  the  forces  of  fengshui  are 
concentrated  there  and  are  working  for  the  prosperity 
of  your  family." 

It  did  actually  turn  out  as  the  geomancer  predicted. 
From  this  time  fortune  changed,  and  wealth  gradually 
began  to  flow  into  the  home.  A  magnificent  mansion 
now  occupies  the  place  where  the  hovel  used  to  stand. 
All  this  is  put  down  to  the  dead  man  that  lies  beneath 
the  button  of  the  shears,  and  to  the  unseen  forces  that 
play  about  his  dust.  Men  never  dream  of  attributing 
it  to  the  ability  of  the  son,  nor  to  his  strong,  deter- 
mined will  and  thorough  business  habits.  These  are, 
no  doubt,  allowed  to  be  factors  in  the  case,  but  they 
would  have  utterly  failed,  men  say,  but  for  the  shapeless 
hands  and  the  unseen  mind  that  have  been  directing 
the  streams  of  good  fortune  into  his  life. 

One  of  the  greatest  curses  of  this  land  is  fengshui, 
for  it  has  absolutely  prevented  the  development  of  the 
vast  mineral  resources  that  lie  concealed  within  it.  Until 
recently  men  dared  not  open  coalmines  for  fear  of 
disturbing  the  dragon  that  lay  beneath.  There  are 
large  districts  in  many  parts  of  the  empire  that  abound 
with  coal  and  iron  that  have  lain  undisturbed  for  ages, 
whilst  the  people  are  suffering  from  the  extremest 
poverty.     The  sound  of  the  pickaxe  would  disturb  the 

8 


114    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

repose  of  the  dragon,  and  the  shovel  and  the  spade 
would  dig  into  the  spirits  that  cluster  in  the  earth,  and 
the  most  terrible  disasters  would  be  the  result.  Famine 
and  pestilence  and  desolating  wars  would  come  upon 
the  land  ;  and  so  the  people  starve  whilst  wealth  that 
would  enrich  every  home  near  by  is  kept  sealed  up 
from  the  nation.  It  was  amusing  to  watch  the  con- 
sternation that  seized  upon  all  classes  of  people  when 
it  was  first  proposed  to  construct  telegraphs  in  China. 
There  were  two  dangers  to  be  anticipated,  viz.,  the 
digging  of  holes  in  the  ground  for  the  posts  and  stretch- 
ing the  long  line  of  wires  across  the  country.  The 
first  would  irritate  the  dragon  and  the  other  spirits 
that  have  their  homes  below  the  ground,  and  the  second 
would  fill  with  dismay  the  spirits  of  the  upper  air,  and 
so  enrage  them  against  men.  It  was,  indeed,  a  daring 
venture  for  those  who  conceived  the  idea,  for  every 
trouble  and  disaster  that  might  happen  along  its  course 
would  be  put  down  to  it.  If  a  child  died  of  measles,  or 
a  pig  fell  into  a  ditch  and  was  drowned,  or  the  crops 
failed,  the  people  would  say  the  telegraph  poles  and 
wires  were  the  cause. 

On  one  occasion,  whilst  the  engineers  were  con- 
structing the  line  in  a  certain  place,  the  wires  had  to 
be  stretched  over  a  house  that  lay  directly  in  tiheir 
course.  The  owner  came  out  in  great  distress  and 
begged  them  to  divert  it  a  few  yards  so  as  to  allow 
it  to  pass  by  on  either  side.  They  told  him  it  was 
impossible  to  consent  to  this.  He  then  went  down 
on  his  knees,  and  in  the  most  piteous  tones  begged 
and  entreated  them  to  have  mercy  upon  him  and  save 
him  from  utter  ruin.  His  prayer  was  again  denied,  and 
he  was  compelled  to  wait  the  sad  fate  that  he  felt  sure 
would  come  upon  him.  A  few  months  after  this  event 
his  wife  had  twin  sons,  which  he  at  once  put  down 
to  the  kindly  intervention  of  the  wires  that  hummed 
and  sang  over  his  house.  They  had  turned  out  to  be 
a  powerful  fengshui,  that  instead  of  disaster  had 
brought  him  two  sons.  The  story  got  abroad,  and 
for  miles  around  the  people  envied  him  his  good  fortune 
and  wished  that  the  line  had  travelled  over  their  homes. 

Fengshui  is  a  superstition  that  has  been  incalculably 
disastrous  to  the  whole  of  this  great  empire  of  China, 


FENGSHUI  115 

for  there  is  nothing  that  has  so  retarded  the  progress 
of  the  nation  and  kept  vast  districts  in  poverty.  There 
are  districts,  for  example,  that  abound  with  the  finest 
kinds  of  coal,  yet  the  people  there  are  in  the  most 
abject  poverty,  and  every  year  large  numbers  have  to 
emigrate  to  other  regions  in  order  to  save  themselves 
from  starvation.  The  mineral  wealth  that  lies  under- 
neath the  poor  fields,  from  which  they  drag  the  rice 
and  potatoes  that  are  not  enough  to  feed  the  overgrown 
population,  would  be  abundant  enough  to  fill  the  homes 
with  plenty,  to  set  factories  at  work,  and  to  change 
the  hunger-stricken  people  into  happy,  contented  citi- 
zens ;  but  no  one  dare  put  a  spade  into  the  ground 
lest  he  should  dig  into  the  dragon's  back  and  so  stir 
up  the  passions  of  this  implacable  monster,  who  would 
wreak  his  vengeance  by  hurling  plague  and  pestilence 
into  the  homes  of  the  people. 

In  a  certain  mountain  region  with  which  I  am 
acquainted,  an  English  engineer,  more  than  twenty 
years  ago,  reported  that  there  was  a  considerable  hill 
that  was  mainly  composed  of  iron  of  a  superior  quality, 
in  quantities  sufficient  to  meet  the  demands  of  the 
whole  empire  for  a  thousand  years.  This  rej)ort  was 
communicated  to  some  of  the  leading  men  in  the 
region,  with  the  result  that  a  few  of  the  more  en,- 
lightened  of  them  were  anxious  that  work  should  at 
once  be  commenced,  smelting  furnaces  erected,  and 
skilled  iron  workers  from  England  engaged,  so  that 
the  poverty  of  ages  might  vanish  and  the  people  cease 
from  the  long  fight  with  starvation.  But  the  dread  of 
the  fengshui  paralysed  the  great  mass  of  the  people, 
and  though  they  longed  for  wealth,  comfort  and  ease, 
and  to  be  delivered  from  the  intolerable  strain  of  want, 
they  dared  not  move  a  step,  lest  they  should  arouse  the 
invisible  forces  that  guarded  the  coal  and  the  iron 
against  them.  The  years  have  gone  by,  but  the  mineral 
wealth  still  lies  undeveloped.  An  English  company 
offered  to  buy  the  land  at  a  most  remunerative  rate. 
They  also  guaranteed  to  pay  all  working  expenses,  to 
employ  the  native  labour  of  the  place  at  good  wages, 
and  to  give  constant  work  to  the  hands  they  would 
necessarily  have  to  employ.  These  were  fascinating 
inducements,  but  the  people  shrank  before  the  fear  of 


116    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

spirits,  so  to-day  the  coal  is  untouched  and  the  iron 
unsmelted,  whilst  the  men  and  the  women  wage  a  fierce 
and  hopeless  fight  against  poverty. 

It  is  this  same  fengshui  that  stops  the  quarrying 
of  stone,  so  that  the  people  of  a  region  where  the  hills 
abound  with  granite  have  to  go  mi.les  away  to  some 
other  district  to  obtain,  at  considerable  toil  and  expense, 
material  with  which  to  build  their  houses.  Junks  put 
out  to  sea  and  travel  along  the  coast,  and  by  and  by 
news  comes  that  a  storm  has  suddenly  arisen  and 
wrecked  them,  and  all  because  they  have  consciously 
or  unconsciously  violated  some  of  the  rules  of  fengshui, 
and  the  spirits  in  their  fury  have  sent  the  great  winds 
upon  them  and  raised  the  mighty  seas  that  have  hurled 
them  to  the  bottom  of  the  ocean. 

Any  one  who  has  visited  a  Chimese  town  cannot  but 
have  noticed  how  all  the  houses  are  pretty  much  of  the 
same  height,  and  how  rarely  one  sees  any  one  that 
towers  above  the  rest.  One  begins  to  wonder  why 
there  should  be  such  a  monotonous  uniformity  through- 
out the  miles  of  streets  along  which  he  wanders,  and 
why  the  Chinese  mind  should  be  satisfied  that  each 
house  should  be  just  about  the  height  of  those  of  the 
neighbours.  The  secret  of  this  puzzle  again  lies  with 
fengshui.  A  house  largely  overtopping  another  would 
be  a  danger  to  the  oJ:hers  round  about.  The  winds 
from  the  four  quarters  would  gather  around  it,  and  the 
vagrant  spirits  that  wander  aimlessly  through  the  air 
would  throw  their  influences  into  it.  The  result  would 
be  most  disastrous  to  the  buildings  lower  than  it.  Men 
would,  consequently,  die  suddenly  of  mysterious  dis- 
eases ;  pigs  would  be  attacked  with  epidemics,  the 
hens  would  cease  to  lay,  children  would  stumble  and 
break  their  necks,  and  business  would  dwindle  away. 
The  whole  neighbourhood  would  rise  in  arms  and  would 
never  remain  satisfied  until  the  obnoxious  story  had 
been  pulled  down  and  the  house  made  level  with  the 
rest. 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  ramifications  of 
fengshui  are  very  extensive,  and  subjects  that  originally 
did  not  belong  to  it  in  the  early  conception  of  it 
have  been  dragged  in  and  placed  within  its  grip. 
This  is  due  to  the  ignorance  of  the  Chinese.     Many 


FENGSHUI  117 

things  occur  in  ordinary  life  that  can  easily  be 
accounted  for  without  the  interposition  of  supernatural 
agency.  The  Chinese  are  in  an  intellectual  darkness 
more  dense  than  that  which  enshrouded  the  Middle 
Ages  in  Europe,  and  so,  when  anything  happens  that 
men  do  not  know  how  to  account  for,  they  put  it 
down  to  this  mysterious  fengshui.  A  child,  for  example, 
dies  in  a  certain  home,  perhaps  because  it  has  eaten 
something  that  has  disagreed  with  it,  or  as  the  result 
of  bad  drains.  At  once  the  whole  family  incontinently 
remove  from  that  house  to  another,  because,  it  is 
believed,  the  fengshui  is  bad  and  may  soon  cause  the 
death  of  some  other  member  if  they  remain  in  it.  A 
man  goes  up  for  his  literary  examination,  and  he  takes 
his  degree  with  honour.  Scholarship  is,  of  course, 
credited  in  a  large  measure  with  this,  but  more  potent 
than  all  the  study  he  has  put  into  his  work  is  the  old 
dilapidated  grave  on  the  hillside,  where  the  spirits 
have  been  secretly  working  on  his  behalf. 

In  the  a^vakening  that  has  begun  to  touch  China 
during  the  last  few  years,  there  are  signs  that  this 
fatal  force  that  has  acted  so  mischievously  on  the 
empire  for  so  many  ages  is  beginning  to  be  discovered 
to  be  an  impostor,  and  the  supreme  powers  are  making 
laws  and  regulations  that  will  ultimately  do  away  with 
it.  The  building  of  telegraphs  and  railways  has  been 
a  severe  blow  to  it,  and  latterly  the  mining  concessions 
that  have  been  liberally  granted  by  the  Government, 
both  to  native  and  foreign  companies,  will  tend  to 
destroy  the  faith  that  men  had  in  it.  China  is  a 
country  that  abounds  in  mineral  wealth,  and  when  once 
the  power  of  superstition  is  removed  and  these  mines 
can  be  exploited  and  developed,  a  new  era  of  prosperity 
will  have  dawned  upon  wide  and  extensive  districts  in 
this  empire. 


CHAPTER  IX  ^ 

THE   SPOKESMAN    OF   THE   GODS 

The  practical,  every-day,  common  religion  of  the 
Chinese  is  idolatry,  pure  and  simple.  No  doubt 
ancestor  worship  has  the  deepest  hold  upon  the  hearts 
of  the  nation,  but  it  is  too  profound  and  too  ideal  and 
not  quick  enough  to  meet  the  problems  that  constantly 
face  the  Chinese  in  their  struggle  for  existence.  To 
provide  for  this  difficulty,  idols  innumerable  have  been 
enshrined  in  homes  and  in  temples  all  over  the  land, 
which  are  believed  to  interfere  promptly  and  without 
delay  in  the  daily  affairs  of  life,  instead  of  awaiting 
the  slower  methods  that  their  dead  ancestors  are 
supposed  to  pursue. 

Many  of  these  idols  are  of  Indian  origin,  as  can  be 
seen  by  their  faces,  as  well  as  by  the  liturgies  that 
are  used,  which  are  certainly  adaptations  from  the 
ancient  Sanscrit.  A  large  number,  on  the  other  hand> 
are  Chinese,  being  statesmen  and  warriors  and  heroes 
in  humble  life  who  have  been  deified  by  royal  edicts 
in  past  ages.  All  the  above  are  believed  to  have  a 
special  commission  from  Heaven  to  control  the  thousand 
and  one  things  in  the  daily  life  of  the  nation,  just  as 
the  Emperor  and  the  countless  mandarins  administer 
the  civil  and  political  affairs  of  the  empire. 

As  these  idols  have  not  the  power  of  expressing 
themselves  in  human  language,  it  has  been  found  neces- 
sary to  establish  a  class  of  men  who  are  called 
**  sorcerers  "  and  who  are  supposed  to  be  able  to  inter- 
pret the  will  of  the  gods  to  those  who  come  with  special 
requests.  Answers  have  often  to  be  given  at  once 
and  delay  may  not  be  brooked.  A  man,  for  example, 
is  going  to  open  a  new  shop.  He  has  planned  to  put 
all  his  capital  into  it,  but  before  taking  the  final  step 

118 


FOUR  FAMOUS  IDOLS. 


THE  SPOKESMAN  OF  THE  GODS  119 

he  wishes  to  get  the  opinion  of  the  idol  as  to  whether 
the  venture  will  be  successful  or  not.  Or  a  wife, 
perhaps,  is  ill  with  an  acute  disea;se  that  has  baffled  the 
skill  of  the  doctors.  The  husband,  full  of  sorrow  and 
anxiety,  comes  with  throbbing  heart  and  eyes  moist 
with  tears  to  beg  the  idol  to  tell  him  what  medicine  he 
shall  give  her  that  will  cure  her. 

The  wooden  god  sits  there  in  its  shrine  with  a  stern 
and  haughty  look  upon  its  face,  but  no  voice  comes 
from  those  silent  lips  in  reply  to  the  passionate  inquiries 
of  those  that  kneel  before  it.  In  these  circumstances 
the  sorcerer  steps  forward,  and,  repeating  certain 
formulae,  gradually  passes  into  a  state  of  frenzy.  He 
then  seems  no  longer  to  have  any  control  over  himself. 
He  leaps  and  flings  himself  about  as  though  he  were 
the  most  veritable  madman  that  ever  escaped  from  a 
lunatic  asylum.  During  his  paroxysms  he  pretends  that 
he  is  inspired  by  the  god,  and  he  pours  forth  answer 
after  answer,  as  if  under  the  inspiration  of  the  idol,  to 
the  suppliants,  who  accept  all  that  this  designing  fellow 
says  as  direct  responses  from  the  invisible  world.  There 
is  considerable  difficulty  in  getting  men  to  act  as 
spokesmen,  because  the  position  they  occupy  is  con- 
sidered to  be  a  most  disreputable  one.  Only  persons 
that  society  looks  upon  with  suspicion  will  undertake 
it.  Gamblers,  opium-smokers,  and  broken-down 
characters  whose  morals  are  of  the  shadiest  descrip- 
tion are  the  choice  materials  out  of  which  sorcerers  are 
manufactured.  No  scholar  nor  respectable  person  ever 
condescends  to  demean  himself  by  entering  their  ranks, 
and  hardly  any  disgrace  could  fall  upon  a  family  that 
would  bring  such  a  stain  upon  it  as  that  of  having  one 
of  its  members  in  this  disreputable  profession. 

In  order  to  be  qualified  to  become  a  sorcerer  a  certain 
weird  and  uncanny  ceremony  has  to  be  performed,  after 
which  the  man  becomes  the  interpreter  of  the  wishes 
of  the  idol,  and  through  him  it  communicates  its  answers- 
to  its  worshippers.  As  very  few  foreigners  have  ever 
had  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  such  a  ceremony,  I 
will  now  describe  one  that  I  was  lucky  enough  to  be 
present  at.  The  time  was  a  very  dark  and  stormy 
night.  The  clouds  overhead  were  black  and  heavy  and 
flew  by  in  frightened  masses  before  the  gale.     Dark- 


120    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

ness  lay  around  on  everything,  except  the  great  banyan- 
tree  in  front  of  the  temple  where  the  weird  rites  were 
to  be  performed,  and  that  was  so  mystified  by  the  dim 
light  that  shone  inside  that  it  seemed  like  a  huge  spectre 
that  had  come  to  play  its  pranks  and  freeze  men's  hearts 
with  fear. 

The  interior  of  the  temple  was  in  deepest  shadow, 
which  was  rendered  all  the  more  conspicuous  by  the 
flickering  of  several  diminutive  oil  lamps  that  showed 
where  the  door  was.  As  if  to  make  the  scene  all  the 
more  sombre,  a  fluttering,  hesitating  tallow  candle  was 
stuck  up  close  to  the  chief  idol,  that,  with  a  haughty, 
imperious  air,  seemed  to  be  looking  with  profound  con- 
tempt upon  the  scene  before  it.  Whether  intended  or 
not,  the  effect  produced  by  this  imperfect  light  was 
very  striking,  and  just  such  as  to  harmonise  with  the 
drama  that  was  being  played  inside  the  front  door. 
It  revealed  enough  of  the  god  to  let  us  know  that  he 
was  there,  whilst  the  shadows  that  clung  around  him 
seemed  to  exaggerate  his  form  and  give  him  a  super- 
natural and  awe-inspiring  appearance. 

Outside  the  narrow  line  along  which  the  candle  threw 
its  uncertain  glimmer  the  mystery  became  all  the  more 
intense,  because  of  the  deep  gloom  that  brooded  there. 
On  each  side  of  the  idol  could  be  seen  spectral, 
shadowy-looking  figures  that  seemed  to  be  concealing 
themselves  in  the  gloom  that  lay  beyond  the  dim,  un- 
certain light  that  flickered  from  the  candle.  One  was 
absorbed  in  profound  thought,  with  a  face  so  cahn 
that  it  would  appear  that  no  passion  ever  ruffled  the 
heart  within.  Another  was  standing  with  hands  out- 
stretched as  though  in  the  very  act  of  giving  its  judg- 
ment to  some  suppliant  who  had  appealed  to  it.  Close 
beside  it  was  another,  apparently  in  a  death  struggle 
with  some  unseen  foe  that  was  endeavouring  to  rob 
it  of  its  life.  Its  body  writhed  in  agony  and  the  muscles 
of  its  twisted,  distorted  arms  were  swollen  and  knotted, 
whilst  its  face  was  covered  with  a  defiant  look  that 
showed  how  unconquered  was  the  spirit  within.  These 
figures,  I  knew,  were  the  attendant  spirits  of  the  chief 
god  that  are  supposed  to  carry  out  his  orders  and  at 
the  same  time  do  a  little  business  on  their  own  account  ; 
for,   Chinese   like,  it  is   believed  that  their  connection 


THE  SPOKESMAN  OF  THE  GODS  121 

with  the  god  has  given  them  a  certain  amount  of  power 
that  can  be  exerted  on  behalf  of  those  that  worship 
them. 

The  chief  interest,  however,  centred  round  four  men 
who  stood  facing  the  idol  in  various  attitudes  just  inside 
the  main  entrance  of  the  temple.  Prominent  amongst 
these  was  the  man  who  was  about  to  be  converted 
into  a  spokesman.  He  was  the  very  last  man  that  one 
would  have  suspected  that  an  intelligent  god  would 
have  anything  to  do  with — that  is,  if  he  had  any  regard 
for  his  own  reputation  as  a  spiritual  being.  He  had 
a  very  suspicious  look  of  the  opium  den  and  gambling 
hell,  and  had  very  much  the  appearance  of  the  loafers 
that  hang  about  such  unsavoury  places. 

One  could  see  that  he  was  a  thoroughly  uneducated 
man,  and  his  whole  bearing  and  dress  showed  that  he 
belonged  to  the  lower  middle  class.  It  was  the  absence 
of  all  signs  of  spirituality,  however,  in  his  face  that 
struck  me  most.  He  was  the  kind  of  man  that  no 
honest  business  man  would  care  to  employ,  and  he 
was  just  the  sort  of  character  that  housewives  would 
guard  their  hen-houses  against  to  prevent  their  poultry 
from  being  raided.  Standing  on  his  right  and  slightly 
facing  him  was  a  coarse -looking  fellow,  with  a  strongly- 
marked,  paganish  countenance,  the  master  of  the 
ceremonies,  who  kept  chanting  the  words  of  the 
incantations  that  were  to  entice  the  spirit  of  the  god 
to  enter  the  man  by  his  side.  In  front  of  him  were 
two  men  with  gongs,  which  they  struck  in  a  slow, 
rhythmical  fashion,  so  as  to  act  as  an  accompaniment 
to  the  loud  and  monotonous  tones  of  the  voice  that 
rang  through  the  building. 

I  watched  with  keen  attention  the  man  who  was 
standing  with  bowed  head,  silently  waiting  for  the 
coming  of  the  spirit.  The  latter  was  evidently  in  no 
hurry  to  respond  to  the  call  of  the  low-featured  master 
of  ceremonies,  for  there  was  no  indication  that  any 
of  the  solemn  appeals  and  beating  of  gongs  had 
made  even  the  slightest  impression  upon  it.  The 
Chinese,  however,  is  a  patient  being,  and  acts  as 
though  he  had  a  thousand  years  before  him  in  which 
to.  plan  to  carry  out  his  purpose.  After  a  considerable 
time,  during  which  the  god  still  seemed  unmoved,  the 


122    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

chanting  was  slightly  quickened  and  each  word  was 
uttered  in  a  sharp,  staccato  tone. 

Listening  attentively  one  could  catch  the  words, 
**  Come,  thou  controller  of  the  spirits,  come  quickly. 
Come,  too,  ye  captains  and  generals  of  the  shadowy 
hosts  and  slay  and  scatter  the  multitudes  of  demons 
that  fill  the  air.  Come,  thou  prince  of  the  Pearly 
Emperor,  who  became  a  mighty  monarch  by  ten  genera- 
tions of  incarnations.  Come  with  the  golden  elixir 
of  life  that  makes  the  stars  shine  brightly,  and  that 
fills  the  earth  with  its  glory.  Come  and  drive  into 
oblivion  the  devils  that  are  bringing  disease  upon  man, 
and  plague  and  pestilence.  Come  with  thy  golden 
sword,  and  cut  in  pieces  the  elves  and  goblins.  Come 
with  thy  shadowy  troops,  with  lightning  speed  as  the 
spirit  that  drags  the  chariot  of  the  thunder,  come  and 
delay  not.  Come  !  come  !  and  enter  the  man  that  is 
waiting  for  thy  presence."  Each  word  was  jerked  out 
as  though  it  had  been  propelled  by  a  charge  of 
dynamite,  and  the  gongs,  in  order  to  be  in  rhythm,  were 
struck  with  a  corresponding  energy  that  made  the 
temple  re-echo  with  their  unmusical  sounds. 

At  length  a  slight  movement  was  observed  in  the 
principal  figure  in  the  weird  scene,  which  the  others 
were  quick  to  observe.  The  voice  of  the  chanter  was 
at  once  raised,  and  the  gongs  clanged  out  their  noisy 
harmonies  to  hasten  on  the  action  of  the  god.  In  a 
very  few  minutes  the  man  began  to  sway  from  side 
to  side,  as  though  the  spirit  had  him  in  its  grip  and 
was  playing  some  mad  pranks  with  him.  The  chant- 
ing was  now  uttered  in  a  still  higher  tone,  and  what 
had  been  entreaty  up  to  this  time  now  became  almost 
a  command.  The  speaker  evidently  felt  that  success 
depended  upon  the  part  he  was  to  play,  and  so  with 
flashing  eyes  and  a  face  full  of  nervous  passion  the 
coarse-looking  fellow  seemed  to  be  ordering  the  unseen 
spirit  to  carry  out  his  imperious  commands. 

In  the  meanwhile  a  wonderful  change  had  come  over 
the  coming  spokesman.  The  cold,  phlegmatic  look  of 
the  Chinese  had  vanished  and  in  its  place  leaped  a 
world  of  passion  that  blazed  within  the  man.  He  was 
no  longer  a  dull,  unemotional  being,  but  a  man  full  of 
fire  and  tempest  and  storm.     With  wild  gestures  and  a 


THE  SPOKESMAN  OF  THE  GODS  123 

look  of  madness  in  his  face  he  lea;ped  and  jumped  about 
the  gloomy  floor  of  the  temple.  Louder  beat  the  gongs 
and  stronger  and  more  imperative  became  the  voice 
of  the  chanter.  The  scene  really  was  most  exciting. 
At  length  the  man,  exhausted  by  his  violent  efforts, 
fell  to  the  ground,  where  he  remained  insensible  for 
some  time.  The  ceremony  had  been  most  successful, 
and  from  this  time  forth  all  revelations  of  the  gods 
must  be  made  through  this  man  who  was  believed  to 
be  inspired  by  them. 

The  power  of  the  medium  is  maintained  simply  by 
the  gross  superstition  of  the  people,  who  are  prepared 
to  believe  in  any  statement  that  he  may  be  pleased  to 
make.  His  position  is  always  a  safe  one,  no  matter 
how  his  predictions  may  turn  out.  If  they  are  found 
to  be  true,  he  gains  considerable  credit  with  the  people. 
If  they  are  not,  the  blame  is  mostly  laid  upon  the 
worshipper  for  his  want  of  faith  in  the  idol,  who  thus 
could  not  act,  or  upon  some  change  of  purpose  in  the 
god.     In  any  case,  no  blame  is  attached  to  him. 

A  Chinese  with  whom  I  was  acquainted  was  one  day 
seized  with  a  severe  fever.  His  son,  who  was  living 
at  a  distance,  was  written  to  and  urged  to  come  at  once 
if  he  wished  to  see  his  father  alive.  Distressed  with 
this  startling  news,  he  went  to  the  nearest  temple  and 
asked  the  sorcerer  to  get  the  idol  to  inform  him  if  it 
were  possible  for  him  to  reach  his  father  before  he 
died.  The  man,  having  worked  himself  up  into  a 
state  of  frenzy  so  as  to  qualify  himself  to  be  the  mouth- 
piece of  the  god,  assured  the  son  that  unless  he  reached 
home  by  a  certain  time  he  would  never  see  his  father 
alive.  Now  it  happened  that,  after  the  dispatch  of  the 
son,  the  fever  succumbed  before  a  few  powerful  doses 
of  quinine,  and  by  the  date  that  the  medium  said  he 
would  be  dead  he  was  on  the  highway  to  recovery.  The 
son,  of  course,  was  delighted  with  this,  and  when  he 
afterwards  twitted  the  sorcerer  with  the  mistake  he 
had  made  the  latter  calmly  replied  :  "  The  death  of 
your  father  had  been  fully  determined  upon,  but  out 
of  pity  for  you  the  idol  decided  to  let  him  live.  You 
ought,  therefore,  to  make  an  extra  offering  to  it  for 
its  mercy  in  sparing  one  so  dear  to  you." 

Beside  the  special  duties  connected  with  the  temples. 


124    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

these  sorcerers  pretend  to  have  great  power  over  evil 
spirits  that  are  commonly  supposed  to  be  roaming  round 
the  world,  always  bent  on  destroying  the  happiness  of 
men  wherever  they  are  met.  These  spirits  are  the 
ghosts  of  men  who  once  lived  on  earth,  and  recollecting 
the  sorrows  and  injuries  they  endured  when  they  were 
men  they  wish  to  be  revenged  for  the  wrongs  they 
once  suffered.  They  consequently  send  sickness  and 
death  into  families,  and  cause  failures  in  business,  and 
make  the  pigs  die  and  the  hens  to  suddenly  droop  and 
perish  of  a  sickness  that  is  incurable. 

If  a  plague  devastates  some  particular  district  in  a 
town,  the  people  treat  the  suggestion  that  impure  water 
and  bad  drainage  are  the  cause  with  the  utmost  con- 
tempt. **  What  possible  connection  can  there  be 
between  the  health  of  a  city  and  its  bad  smells  ?  " 
they  contemptuously  inquire.  China,  they  declare,  has 
never  been  without  these.  The  present  ones  are  the 
lineal  descendants  of  those  that  started  in  the  heroic 
age  of  the  empire.  The  Chinese  have  always  lived 
amongst  smells.  They  played  as  children  with  them 
close  by.  They  have  grown  up  strong  and  healthy 
amongst  them.  They  are  part  of  the  social  life  of  the 
people,  and  without  them  the  empire  might  be 
endangered.  Epidemics,  the  people  declare,  are  caused 
by  malign  spirits,  and  the  cure  for  these  is  not  sanitary 
measures  and  sweeping  of  drains  and  copious  supplies 
of  carbolic,  but  the  arts  of  the  sorcerer,  who  will  soon 
put  to  flight  the  most  obstinate  and  pigheaded  of  the 
invisible  fraternity. 

When  the  services  of  this  man  are  required  he  dresses 
himself  up  in  full  fighting  costume  to  wage  battle  with 
the  unseen  foes.  In  order  to  impress  the  people  with 
a  sense  of  the  seriousness  of  the  conflict,  he  comes  forth 
in  the  most  barbaric  style.  He  knows  that  as  he  has 
really  no  visible  antagonist  that  he  can  slay  before  the 
gaping  crowds  any  victory  that  he  may  gain  must  be 
owing  to  his  skill  in  acting  a  part  that  shall  make  the 
flesh  creep  and  give  men  the  horrors  as  they  look  on 
at  the  encounter  with  the  malign  foes  of  mankind. 

At  a  fixed  time,  which  has  been  duly  specified  to  the 
dwellers  round  a  certain  temple,  the  sorcerer,  who  has 
been  waiting  for  the  gathering  of  the  spectators,  sud- 


THE  SPOKESMAN  OF  THE  GODS  125 

denly  leaps  out  from  a  dark  foorri  in  the  back  of  the 
building  where  he  has  been  preparing  his  make-up 
for  the  great  conflict.  He  is  stripped  to  the  waist, 
ready  to  perish  if  needs  be,  though  dying  is  the  very 
last  thought  he  has  in  his  mind.  The  Chinese  are 
natural -born  actors,  and  so  this  man  is  just  in  his 
element  now,  all  the  more  so  as  he  knows  that  he  is 
perfectly  safe. 

In  his  right  hand  he  grasps  a  huge  sword  that  he 
has  recently  been  sharpening  and  in  his  left  a  black 
flag,  on  which  seven  stars  are  emblazoned.  These 
latter  are  believed  to  have  a  baneful  influence  on  the 
demons.  To  add  to  the  fierceness  of  his  looks  a  short 
knife  is  stuck  into  his  right  cheek,  and  the  handle 
hangs  dangling  down  towards  his  neck. 

No  sooner  has  he  got  outside  into  the  open  space  in 
front  of  the  temple  than  he  gets  into  the  most  furious 
passion.  This  represents  the  anger  of  the  god  at  the 
infernal  spirits  daring  to  molest  its  worshippers.  He 
flies  about  as  if  in  a  frenzy  and  makes  backhanded 
lunges  with  the  sword,  not  only  at  the  invisible  forces 
in  the  air  but  also  at  his  own  naked  back.  There  is 
a  method,  however,  in  this  last  that  is  exceedingly 
amusing  to  any  one  who  is  not  under  the  influence  of 
superstition.  Every  time  he  makes  his  lunge  at  his 
unprotected  back  one's  heart  almost  stops  beating  and 
a  great  fear  comes  over  one  lest  the  sharp,  gleaming 
sword  should  slash  into  it  and  wound  him  with  its  fatal 
stroke.  After  a  few  mad  efforts  of  this  kind  we  begin 
to  see  that  there  is  a  method  in  the  man's  wild  attempt 
to  murder  himself,  and  that  there  is  really  no  danger 
after  all  from  these  murderous  lunges. 

As  we  look  more  carefully  at  the  scene,  we  discover 
two  men  dodging  behind  him  with  long  sticks  in  their 
hands.  These  men  keep  their  eyes  riveted  on  the  move- 
ments of  the  sorcerer,  and  every  time  he  strikes 
viciously  at  his  back  they  cunningly  interpose  their 
sticks  so  that  the  sword  cannot  reach  his  body. 
.Wherever  he  goes  they  follow,  and  in  whatever  direction 
he  darts  and  wriggles  and  plays  the  mountebank  they 
must  be  as  prompt  and  agile  as  he,  so  as  to  be 
ready  to  render  the  stroke  of  the  sword  innocuous. 
After  a  time,  when  he  has  made  a  perfect  fool  of  him- 


126    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

self,  but  has  deeply  impressed  the  crowd  that  has 
collected  to  witness  this  strange  encounter  with  super- 
natural powers,  the  sorcerer  addresses  the  spirits  in 
language  anything  but  choice  or  polite,  and  warns  them 
that  if  they  do  not  at  once  leave  the  district  they  will 
be  afflicted  with  such  awful  pains  and  torments  that 
existence  will  be  made  one  long  misery  to  them.  He 
then  slashes  the  air  in  all  directions  as  if  to  give  them 
a  hint  of  what  they  may  expect  in  the  future  if  they 
refuse  to  obey.  With  these  words  of  threatening  and 
denunciation  the  exhibition  comes  to  an  end. 

A  most  remarkable  thing  in  this  grotesque  business  is 
that  it  never  seems  to  occur  to  the  Chinese,  who  are 
conspicuous  for  their  common  sense  in  the  ordinary 
matters  of  life,  that  the  spirits  should  not  have  had 
wit  enough  to  disperse  beyond  the  reach  of  this 
sorcerer's  sword,  but  should  have  been  simple  enough 
to  collect  in  this  one  space  where  they  would  come 
under  the  control  of  his  influence.  The  fact  is,  the 
Chinese,  who  is  as  keen  and  as  shrewd  as  any  man  in 
the  world,  seems  to  give  up  all  his  powers  of  thought 
and  of  logic  when  he  comes  face  to  face  with  super- 
stition. 

By  and  by  the  epidemic  abates  and  the  popular  belief 
in  the  idol  is  confirmed  ;  whilst  more  grist  is  brought 
to  the  mill  of  the  sorcerer,  who  is  credited  with  being  a 
powerful  agent  in  bringing  about  such  a  happy  result. 
Still,  the  position  of  the  spokesman  of  the  gods  is  by 
no  means  an  enviable  one.  The  man  is  despised  and 
scorned  by  society  generally,  and  it  is  the  popular  belief 
that  his  connexion  with  the  idols,  instead  of  bringing 
a  blessing  upon  him,  actually  conveys  a  curse.  As 
time  goes  on  the  members  of  his  family  gradually  pine 
away  and  die.  The  wife,  perhaps,  sickens,  and  no 
incantation  or  frenzied  appeal  to  the  gods  can  save 
her.  Then  a  son,  beloved  of  his  father,  falls  into  a  well 
and  is  drowned.  Another  child  is  attacked  with  fever 
and  he  passes  away  in  delirium.  The  man  is  now  left 
wifeless  and  childless,  and  men  shake  their  heads  and 
say,  "Ah!  Heaven  is  just.  The  man  has  deceived 
many,  and  has  brought  sorrow  upon  many  a  home,  and 
now  a  just   retribution  has  fallen  upon  himself." 

It   is   astonishing   that   men   of   dissolute   lives   and 


THE  SPOKESMAN  OF  THE  GODS  127 

absolutely  without  moral  character  should  be  allowed 
so  prominent  a  position  in  the  popular  religion  of  the 
people.  The  lives  of  these  sorcerers  are  well  known. 
They  very  frequently  cause  the  death  of  people  by  pre- 
scribing medicines  that  hasten  their  end.  No  action  is 
taken  by  the  authorities  or  by  their  relatives  to  bring 
punishment  upon  them.  They  are  excused  because  they 
are  said  to  be  under  the  influence  of  the  gods,  who 
inspired  them  to  write  their  fatal  prescriptions.  No 
one  dares  express  any  disapproval  of  their  action,  lest 
some  calamity  should  incontinently  be  hurled  upon  him 
by  the  angry  gods,  who  are  believed  to  be  a  very 
passionate  race,  and  easily  moved  to  take  revenge. 
Idolatry  is  often  supposed  to  be  a  happy  kind  of 
religion,  which  allows  every  one  to  live  in  a  free-and- 
easy  style  and  act  and  think  precisely  as  he  likes. 
This  is  a  mistake.  It  is,  on  the  contrary,  a  tremendous 
tyranny  that  dominates  and  terrifies  men  with  the 
awful  dread  of  summary  pains  and  penalties  that  may 
at  any  moment  be  inflicted  upon  them  through  the 
agency  of  such  a  disreputable  character  as  the  sorcerer, 
who  claims  that  he  holds  a  brief  from  the  spirits  to 
act  as  their  deputy  amongst  men. 

A  Nemesis  sometimes,  however,  does  fall  upon  these 
scamps,  and  then  there  is  no  pity  from  any  one  for 
them.  On  one  occasion,  one  of  these  gentry  had  been 
called  upon  by  a  sick  man  to  inquire  of  a  certain  idol 
what  medicine  he  should  take  for  the  complaint  from 
which  he  was  suffering.  The  sorcerer,  having  gone 
through  certain  incantations,  became  inspired  by  the 
god,  and  in  the  midst  of  his  frenzy  asked  it  what 
prescription  he  should  write  for  the  man  who  was  ill. 
Suddenly  he  seized  a  pen  and  dashed  out  a  formula 
which  he  handed  to  the  man,  and  told  him  to  take  it 
to  the  chemist  and  have  it  made  up.  The  man  hurried 
away  with  it  to  the  nearest  shop,  but  when  the  druggist 
examined  the  prescription  he  was  horrified  and  declared 
that  the  main  ingredient  was  a  most  deadly  poison 
and  that  enough  of  that  had  been  prescribed  to  kill 
half  a  dozen  men. 

The  man  got  frightened  and  hastened  back  to  the 
sorcerer  and  repeated  to  him  what  the  chemist  had  said. 
The  spokesman  of  the  god,  who  was  a  rough,  coarse 


128    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

fellow,  and  of  a  domineering  and  brow-beating  dis- 
position, expressed,  in  very  homely  but  sulphurous 
language,  his  indignation  that  any  one  should  dare  to 
doubt  the  integrity  of  the  god,  or  dream  that  he  would 
make  a  mistake  such  as  would  endanger  the  life  of  any 
of  his  devotees.  He  declared,  in  most  emphatic 
language,  that  the  druggist  was  a  wooden -headed  fool, 
who  had  not  a  particle  of  imagination,  nor  a  soul  that 
knew  how  to  grasp  the  inspiration  of  the  god  who  had 
designed  by  an  extraordinary  display  of  his  power  to 
heal  the  sick  man  of  his  disease.  But  he  would  show 
him  that  the  idol  whose  spokesman  he  was  was  a 
god  that  could  deliver  those  who  trusted  him,  and  to 
prove  this  he  himself  would  take  the  dose  that  was 
said  to  be  so  dangerous  a  one.  In  spite  of  the  protesta- 
tions of  the  chemist,  h^e  swallowed  the  whole  of  the 
prescription,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours  he  died 
in  the  greatest  possible  agonies. 

One  would  naturally  suppose  that  this  would  greatly 
shake  the  faith  of  the  people  in  the  god,  but  this  is  not 
so.  The  apparent  failure  of  an  idol  does  not  seem  to 
influence  them  in  the  smallest  degree.  The  death  of 
the  sorcerer,  they  said,  was  due  to  his  own  defective 
moral  character  and  not  to  any  want  of  power  in  the 
god,  for  even  had  the  sick  man  taken  the  medicine  that 
killed  the  former,  the  idol  would  still  have  devised  means 
to  have  rescued  him  from  death.  No  one  ever  dreams 
of  questioning  either  the  power  or  the  motives  of  the 
numberless  idols  scattered  throughout  the  land,  and, 
consequently,  the  whole  tribe  of  priests  and  sorcerers 
have  very  little  fear  of  their  position  being  assailed. 

The  spokesman  of  the  gods  is  no  outcome  of  the 
benevolent  teaching  of  Buddhism.  The  founder  of  that 
system  would  never  have  deigned  to  recognise  such  a 
charlatan  and  impostor.  Human  happiness  was  too 
dear  to  him  to  tolerate  such  cruelties  and  miseries  as 
he  often  is  the  means  of  bringing  on  men  and  women. 
The  teachings  of  Buddha,  so  full  of  tenderness  and  com- 
passion, exist  now  only  in  books.  The  masses  know 
nothing  of  them.  The  vast  majority  of  the  priests  never 
read  nor  study  them,  and  the  sorcerers  are  too  illiterate 
to  attempt  to  understand  them.  And  thus  religion  is 
handed  over  to  priests  who  have  no  enthusiasm,  and 


THE  SPOKESMAN  OF  THE  GODS  129 

whose  lives  are  stained  by  many  vices,  and  to  the  low- 
class  sorcerers,  whose  profession  is  a  disgrace,  and 
who  can  never  show  a  single  virtue  to  lead  men  to  a 
higher  faith  and  a  nobler  life.  The  one  power  that 
is  needed  in  China  to-day  is  the  Divine  Man,  Christ 
Jesus,  whose  life  is  an  inspiration  to  the  world,  and 
whose  mission  was  **  to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost.'* 


CHAPTER    X 

THE    TEMPLE     OF    THE    EMPEROR     OF    THE     CITY 

There  is  one  temple  in  every  walled  city  in  the  empire 
that  stands  out  prominently  from  every  other  one  in  the 
district.  The  rest  deal  with  life  in  its  ordinary  humdrum 
methods.  This  has  sterner  work  to  do,  as  its  business 
is  with  rascality  and  cheating,  and  those  shadier  forms 
of  human  life  that  respectable  people  and  even  idols, 
such  as  the  goddess  of  mercy,  the  god  of  war,  and  such 
like,  do  not  care  to  have  much  to  do  with.  People, 
for  example,  with  common  and  what  might  be  called 
respectable  diseases  apply  to  any  of  the  numerous 
temples  that  are  to  be  found  everywhere  ;  but  madness 
and  palsy  and  plague,  that  are  supposed  to  be  the  work 
of  evil  spirits,  come  within  the  scope  of  the  City 
Emperor. 

He  is  a  knowing  customer  is  this  god,  who  can 
fathom  the  intricacies  of  crime,  and  meet  the  wiles  and 
cunning  tricks  of  men  who  are  walking  in  the  crooked 
ways  of  wickedness  and  depravity,  such  as  none  of  the 
other  more  simple-minded  and  unsuspecting  idols  can 
do.  But  let  us  visit  the  temple  of  this  popular  idol, 
and  see  for  ourselves  the  kind  of  business  that  is  going 
on  every  day  in  it. 

It  is  situated  in  a  narrow,  dirty  street,  in  the  midst 
of  dilapidated,  frowsy-looking  houses,  with  ancient 
smells  that  have  such  a  concentrated  essence  of  their 
own  that  our  hands  naturally  seek  our  pockets  to  extract 
our  handkerchiefs  for  immediate  use.  The  main 
entrance  is  an  imposing  one  and  is  constructed  after 
the  manner  of  the  mandarins*  yamens/  with  huge  central 
doors    and    side    entrances    for    common    use.     These 

'  A  yamen  contains  the  mandarin's  Law  Courts,  as  well  as  his  own 
private  residence. 


TEMPLE  OF  THE  EMPEROR  OF  THE  CITY  131 

suggest  the  semi-official  character  of  the  building,  where 
cases  are  tried  and  where  lawsuits  are  settled  by  the 
presiding  god  within. 

A  scene  suggestive  of  the  character  of  idolatry  and 
its  moral  influence  on  the  people  meets  us  as  we  ascend 
the  steps  to  enter  the  building.  Four  men  are  seated 
on  the  ground,  close  up  to  the  massive  doors,  engaged 
in  gambling.  Their  eyes  are  glued  on  the  cards,  and 
their  looks  are  absorbed  as  though  they  were  going 
through  some  mental  process  by  which  they  were  trying 
to  discover  the  hands  that  the  others  held.  I  speak 
to  them  and  ask  them  if  they  are  not  afraid  that  the  god 
within  will  punish  them  for  the  disrespect  done  to  his 
temple  and  for  their  violation  of  law.  They  take  no 
notice  whatever  of  my  question,  but  with  faces  stern  and 
fixed  they  gaze  upon  the  cards  they  hold  in  their  hands, 
just  as  though  their  fortunes  and  their  very  lives 
depended  upon  them.  I  repeat  my  inquiry,  but  I 
am  met  with  the  same  stolid  silence,  when  a  by- 
stander, amused  at  this  little  comedy,  with  grinning 
face  and  eyes  sparkling  with  fun,  says  to  me:  "You 
are  a  stranger  here  and  evidently  do  not  understand 
our  ways.  These  men,  before  they  began  their  game, 
went  and  made  it  right  with  the  god  by  a  bribe,  so 
you  need  not  be  afraid  that  he  will  be  offended  at  their 
card-playing.  The  man  who  wins  has  promised  a  good 
offering  to  the  idol,  and  so  he  is  perfectly  willing  that 
the  gambling  should  go  on  in  front  of  his  temple." 

On  entering  by  one  of  the  side  doors,  we  come  upon 
twelve  figures  carved  in  wood,  nearly  as  large  as  life. 
They  are  the  attendants  or  policemen  of  the  god,  and 
the  detectives  he  employs  in  the  ferreting  out  of  crime, 
and  in  bringing  criminals  before  his  bar  to  receive  the 
punishment  due  for  their  misdeeds.  They  are  a  weird- 
looking  group,  and  meant  to  strike  terror  into  the  hearts 
of  men.  Time  and  weather  have  worked  sad  havoc  with 
most  of  them,  for  they  have  a  look  about  them  that 
suggests  the  need  of  a  carpenter  and  painter  to  make 
them  fit  to  appear  in  respectable  society. 

Passing  by  these  staring,  hideous -looking  objects,  we 
cross  a  large  courtyard,  and  find  ourselves  in  the 
presence  of  the  idol.  If  his  attendants  at  the  door  fare 
badly,  the  same  cannot  be  said  of  their  superior.     The 


132  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

image,  which  is  placed  on  a  raised  platform,  is  beauti- 
fully gilt  and  has  the  appearance  of  being  well  cared 
for.  The  face  is  grave-looking  and  inclined  to  stern- 
ness. It  has  the  look  of  a  man  who  has  a  perplexing 
case  before  him,  and  about  which  there  are  points  that 
excite  his  indignation.  This  state  of  mind  may  indeed 
be  said  to  be  a  chronic  one,  for  all  the  cases  that  come 
before  him  are  of  a  decidedly  shady  character,  and 
would  not  bear  the  light  of  day  upon  them. 

Immediately  in  front  of  him  there  is  the  full-sized 
figure  of  a  man  with  a  grave  and  scholarly  look,  sitting 
at  a  table  with  pen  in  hand,  absorbed  in  writing  down 
something  evidently  of  great  importance.  This  is  the 
private  secretary  of  the  god,  and  he  is  recording  in 
characters  that  will  never  perish  the  crimes  and  mis- 
deeds of  the  men  that  appear  in  this  dread  court,  with 
all  the  evidence  against  them.  This  is  all  supposed  to 
be  passed  on  to  Hades,  where  the  prince  of  the  under- 
world will  make  arrangements  for  a  very  warm  recep- 
tion of  them  by  and  by. 

This  Emperor  of  the  City  is  popularly  supposed  to 
be  the  great  avenger  of  all  wrongs.  He  is  in  direct 
communication  with  the  Chinese  Pluto,  who  has  com- 
missioned him  to  act  as  his  deputy  amongst  men,  and 
who  is  preparing  various  kinds  of  punishments  for  those 
whom  he  condemns  in  the  other  world,  in  addition  to 
what  the  poor  wretches  have  to  endure  in  this.  It  is 
fully  believed  that  he  is  never  appealed  to  in  any  case 
of  wrong  or  injustice  where  he  does  not  unmercifully 
punish  the  transgressor.  He  has  a  variety  of  ways  in 
which  he  does  this.  Sickness,  perhaps,  is  sent  into  the 
family  of  the  culprit.  This  is  a  gentle  hint  that  the  god 
is  moving,  and  if  repentance  be  not  shown  worse  things 
will  soon  happen.  Or,  perhaps,  his  business  begins  to 
decline,  or  some  member  of  the  family  dies.  Disaster 
after  disaster  fall  upon  the  home  in  quick  succession  till 
it  is  finally  exterminated. 

Men  look  upon  these  judgments  as  direct  visitations 
from  the  god  for  great  wrong  done  by  perhaps  the  head 
of  a  family  or  some  other  member  of  it.  The  idol 
believes  in  the  **  law  of  righteousness,"  and  it  spares  no 
rank  nor  condition  in  life.  With  unfaltering  steps  it 
marches  on  to  judgment,  and  no  combination  of  friends 


TEMPLE  OF  THE  EMPEROR  OF  THE  CITY  133 

can  avail  to  avert  the  doom  of  the  man  whose  wrongs 
have  been  brought  formally  before  its  notice. 

No  sooner  do  we  come  into  the  presence  of  the  god 
than  several  priests  emerge  from  an  inner  room  and 
gather  round  us.  They  are  dressed  in  long  and  very 
loose  slate-coloured  robes  that  reach  nearly  to  their  feet. 
Their  heads  are  shaven,  and  are  as  bare  as  the  palm 
of  one's  hand.  The  impression  that  they  make  upon  us 
is  not  by  any  means  a  favourable  one.  If  ever  the 
passions  of  men's  hearts  come  out,  and  reveal  themselves 
upon  their  faces,  they  have  certainly  done  so  here. 
Morally,  they  seem  to  be  of  a  lower  type  than  the  men 
upon  the  streets,  or  of  the  crowd  that  has  followed  us 
into  the  temple  to  see  what  we  are  going  to  do  there. 

How  could  they  be  otherwise?  The  greater  part  of 
the  time  they  are  unoccupied.  They  are  extremely 
illiterate,  and  they  have  not  the  restraints  of  home  life 
to  keep  them  moderately  pure,  for  when  a  man  becomes 
a  priest  he  must  give  up  father  and  mother,  and  if 
he  be  married,  wife  and  children,  and  live  a  solitary  life, 
with  no  noble  ambition  and  no  stimulus  to  a  life  of 
devotion  and  self-sacrifice  to  help  him. 

As  we  are  sitting  talking  to  them  and  sipping  the 
tea  they  have  courteously  had  an  attendant  bring  us,  a 
man  comes  in  cautiously  and  hesitatingly  across  the 
courtyard.  Slowly,  and  in  a  shy  and  half -frightened 
manner,  he  comes  up  to  where  the  idol  is  seated.  His 
face  is  a  pleasant  one,  and  now  and  again  a  smile 
flits  across  it  through  sheer  nervousness,  and  gives  it 
such  a  sunny,  genial  look  that  we  feel  our  sympathies 
drawn  out  towards  him. 

He  is  a  countryman,  as  can  easily  be  seen  by  the 
cut  of  his  clothes  and  his  brown,  sunburnt  features. 
He  is  dressed  in  his  very  best  and  his  head  has  been 
shaved,  and  as  he  draws  near  to  the  god,  in  order  to 
pay  respect  to  it,  he  gives  a  sudden  touch  to  his  queue 
that  is  wound  around  his  head,  and  in  an  instant  it  falls 
down  his  back.  This  act  is  one  of  respect,  for  to 
address  a  superior  with  the  queue  twisted  round  the 
crown  of  the  head  is  a  great  breach  of  etiquette.  In 
his  hand  he  holds  a  bundle  of  incense  sticks,  which 
he  proceeds  to  light  and  insert  in  an  incense  dish  lying 
In  front  of  the  idol.     He  has  also  a  long  string  of  paper 


134    MEN  AND  MANNERS   OF  MODERN  CHINA 

ingots,  representing  large  sums  of  gold  and  silver,  which 
he  sets  on  fire. 

These  acts  are  preparatory  to  the  real  business  that 
has  brought  him  here,  and  are  intended  to  propitiate 
the  god.  It  is  believed  in  China  that  the  true  way  to 
reach  any  one's  heart  is  through  a  gift,  a  present  of 
some  kind,  and  the  larger  the  better.  Justice  is  admin- 
istered on  this  principle  in  almost  every  court  in  this 
great  empire.  This  has  been  the  case  from  time  im- 
memorial, so  that  the  thought  has  sunk  into  the  great 
public  heart  till  it  has  become  a  prime  article  of  faith 
and  practice  in  every  department  of  Hfe. 

Idols,  of  course,  are  but  deified  men,  and,  whatever 
they  may  have  lost  in  their  transition  from  earth  to 
the  other  world,  it  is  never  dreamed  that  the  passion 
for  a  bribe  has  been  at  all  affected.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  the  man  has  brought  his  incense  and  his 
ingots  representing  considerable  sums  of  money.  It 
is  true  that  the  whole  has  not  cost  him  sixpence,  but  he 
believes  that  by  some  hocuspocus  or  other  the  tawdry 
pieces  of  paper  will  be  transmuted  into  real  gold  and 
silver  by  the  time  they  reach  the  treasury  of  the  god, 
and  will  thus  incline  him  to  grant  his  petition. 

After  this  preliminary  performance,  the  man  drew 
out  a  long  document,  which  contained  his  petition  to 
the  idol,  and  proceeded  to  read  it  in  a  loud,  clear  voice. 
This  told  the  story  how  that  when  his  father  was  dying, 
he  had  left  the  farm  and  the  homestead  to  himself  and 
a  younger  brother.  This  latter  had  recently  fallen  into 
evil  ways,  and  had  taken  to  gambling  and  opium-smok- 
ing. Running  short  of  money,  he  had  forged  a  deed 
and  sold  the  whole  of  the  property  to  a  rich  man  in 
the  neighbourhood.  The  petitioner  had  begged  and 
entreated  this  wealthy  individual  not  to  take  advantage 
of  his  brother's  wickedness,  but  to  refuse  to  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  the  purchase  of  land  that  his  brother 
had  no  right  to  sell,  yet  in  vain.  An  appeal  had 
been  made  to  the  local  mandarin  for  redress,  but  the 
rich  man's  bribes  had  perverted  the  judgment,  and 
now  his  only  hope  was  in  the  justice  of  the  god. 

He  then  went  on  to  implore  the  idol  to  avenge  him 
by  sending  down  upon  the  rich  man  every  known  dis- 
aster that  has  ever  turned  human  life  into  a  howling 


TEMPLE  OF  THE  EMPEROR  OF  THE  CITY  135 

wilderness  of  sorrow.  He  prayed  that  lingering  dis- 
ease might  come  into  his  family  and  smite  every 
member  of  it  ;  that  his  wife  might  be  plagued  with 
madness,  and  his  children  become  vagabonds  ;  that 
his  riches  might  flee,  and  poverty  of  the  direst  kind 
pursue  him  till  life  should  end  amidst  rags  and  desti- 
tution ;  and  that  his  life  should  become  a  burden  to 
him,  so  that  death,  with  all  the  gloom  that  heathen 
belief  throws  around  it,  should  be  looked  forward  to 
as  the  happiest  thing  that  could  happen  to  him. 

After  he  had  finished  reading  his  formal  complaint, 
which  was  drawn  up  precisely  as  an  accusation  in  the 
civil  courts  would  have  been,  he  burned  it  in  the 
presence  of  the  idol,  and  bowing  gravely  to  it,  he  looked 
round  with  his  nervous  smile  upon  the  spectators  who 
had  been  listening  to  him,  and  after  a  few  moments' 
hesitation  slowly  left  the  temple.  He  never  expected 
to  get  back  his  farm  and  his  home  again.  These  were 
irretrievably  lost  to  him,  but  he  had  the  satisfaction 
of  having,  as  he  believed,  set  in  motion  a  power  that 
would  never  rest  nor  sleep  till  it  had  executed  dire 
vengeance  upon  the  man  who  had  wronged   him. 

We  continue  to  sit  and  sip  our  tea  with  the  priests. 
As  we  get  better  acquainted  with  each  other,  I  find 
my  heart  warming  towards  them,  and  the  feeling  of 
repugnance  gradually  subsiding.  I  talk  to  them  about 
God,  and  about  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and 
as  they  get  interested,  their  hearts  are  moved  by  the 
story,  the  wicked  look  melts  in  their  eyes,  and  the 
bold  expression  that  repelled  us  at  first  gradually 
softens  down  till  their  faces  becojne  gentle  and  sym- 
pathetic. Everything  else  is  for  the  moment  forgotten 
whilst  I  dwell  upon  the  tenderness  and  love  of  God. 
The  idols  close  by  seem  to  be  silently  listening,  and 
the  secretary,  with  pen  in  hand,  appears  as  though 
he  had  stayed  his  work  in  the  absorbing  interest  of 
the  story  that  is  being  told  to  these  priests. 

There  were  no  objections  made  to  our  preaching  the 
gospel  ;  indeed,  they  frequently  expressed  their  ap- 
proval of  the  various  points  that  seemed  to  touch  their 
hearts,  and  the  crowd  that  had  gathered  thickly  round 
to  hear  what  we  were  saying  gave  very  free  utterance 
"  to  their  opinion  that  the  doctrines  we  preached  were 


136    MEN  AND   MANNERS   OF  MODERN   CHINA 

in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  Heaven,  and  there- 
fore worthy  the  acceptance  of  all  men. 

But  suddenly  the  stillness  of  the  temple  is  broken 
by  the  sounds  of  the  voices  of  a  number  of  people, 
and  immediately  a  crowd  comes  trooping  in  with  an 
excited,  expectant  air,  as  though  they  expected  to 
witness  something  that  would  be  more  than  ordinarily 
interesting.  They  march  past  the  broken-down-looking 
figures  at  the  door,  across  the  courtyard,  and  halt  not 
till  they  gather  tumultuously  in  front  of  the  idol. 

It  is  astonishing  with  what  irreverence  the  Chinese 
behave  in  their  temples  and  in  the  presence  of  their 
gods.  Their  voices  are  not  hushed,  nor  do  they  walk 
with  silent  tread,  nor  show  any  signs  that  they  feel 
they  are  in  the  presence  of  beings  that  have  to  be 
reverenced  or  feared.  They  talk  loudly,  and  gesticulate 
and  wrangle  and  use  foul  language  just  as  though 
they  were  met  in  some  public  place  where  men  could 
act  precisely  as  they  liked,  without  the  fear  of  being 
taken  to  task  for  anything  they  might  do. 

Conspicuous  amongst  the  crowd  that  flock  into  every 
available  space  in  front  of  the  idol  are  two  men,  who 
are  to  be  the  actors  in  a  very  exciting  and  dramatic 
ceremony.  They  are  both  of  them  serious  and  sober- 
looking,  and  are  evidently  impressed  with  the  gravity 
of  the  circumstances  that  have  brought  them  so 
prominently  before  the  public.  One  of  them  is  a 
middle-aged  man,  evidently  a  shopkeeper  in  a  fairly 
good  way  of  business,  and  the  kind  of  man  that  one 
would  feel  inclined  to  trust.  He  has  large,  expressive 
features,  not  a  beauty  by  any  means,  but  certainly 
not  repulsive.  His  eyes  are  black  and  just  now  snapping 
with  excitement.  He  is  full  of  nervous  passion,  which 
we  can  see  by  the  varying  expressions  that  flash  across 
his  common -sense,  homely-looking  face. 

It  appears  that  he  has  lately  lost  a  considerable  sum 
of  money  that  he  had  hidden  away  in  what  he  con- 
sidered to  be  a  very  secure  hiding-place  in  his  house. 
It  was  all  the  spare  fortune  that  he  possessed,  and 
it  was  upon  it  that  he  relied  as  the  backbone  of  his 
business,  upon  which  he  could  draw  when  bills  became 
pressing  and  creditors  urgent  in  their  demands  for 
payment . 


TEMPLE  OF  THE  EMPEROR  OF  THE  CITY  137 

One  morning  he  came  to  take  out  enough  to  pay  a 
bill  that  had  been  presented,  and  lo  1  to  his  horror,  the 
whole  had  disappeared.  There  was  no  living  soul,  he 
believed,  that  knew  of  the  whereabouts  of  the  money 
excepting  his  assistant.  .With  beating  heart  and  passion 
on  his  lips,  and  fierce  revenge  gathering  in  his  soul, 
he  demanded  from  him  the  stolen  money.  The  latter 
denied  all  knowledge  of  the  theft,  and  to  prove  his 
innocence  he  volunteered  to  appear  before  the  Emperor 
and  take  the  dread  oath  that  he  was  entirely  guiltless 
of  the  charge  that  had  been  made  against  him. 

And  now  here  they  stand.  The  defendant,  as  I  may 
call  him,  is  a  pleasant -faced,  nervous -looking  man,  with 
not  very  much  intelligence  or  force  of  character. 
Examining  him  as  he  stands  in  front  of  the  crowd,  with 
the  grim,  stern-looking  god  gazing  down  upon  him, 
he  does  not  seem  to  have  the  look  of  a  thief.  I  could 
hardly  imagine  that  he  had  the  daring  and  the  enter- 
prise to  plan  the  carrying  off  of  so  large  a  sum  of 
money.  It  is  a  good  sign,  too,  that  he  is  willing  to 
stand  before  the  tribunal  of  the  god  and  swear  that 
he  is  not  guilty.  It  is  only  sinners  and  men  of  iron 
nerve,  and  scamps  whose  consciences  have  been 
hardened,  that  dare  to  face  the  awful  penalties  that  the 
invisible  powers  would  surely  exact  from  them  in  case 
of  false  swearing.  He  holds  a  white  cock  in  his  hand, 
which,  during  this  preliminary  and  miscellaneous  talk 
that  was  meant  for  the  information  of  the  spectators, 
makes  vigorous  struggles  to  get  away.  It  does  not 
like  the  crowd,  and  would  much  prefer  to  be  in  the 
farmyard  than  in  such  a  gathering  of  men. 

Incense  sticks  are  now  lighted  and  placed  in  front 
of  the  god  and  strings  of  paper  money  are  burnt,  so 
as  to  incline  it  to  listen  patiently  to  the  story  now 
about  to  be  told.  The  accuser  then  produces  his  docu- 
ment, in  which  he  has  drawn  up  his  accusation,  and 
in  a  loud  voice  reads  from  it.  It  tells  how  he  had  a 
sum  of  money  in  his  house  put  away  carefully  in  a 
secret  place,  and  how  distressed  he  was  when  he  came 
to  use  it,  to  find  that  it  had  disappeared.  He  had 
searched  for  it,  but  in  vain,  as  the  thief  had  left  no 
trace  behind  of  his  theft.  He  was  fully  convinced  that 
no  one  but  the  man  at  his  side  could  have  taken  it. 


138    MEN   AND  MANNERS   OF  MODERN  CHINA 

and,  therefore,  he  implored  the  god  to  cause  him  to 
restore  it  to  him,  or  to  send  down  such  punishment 
upon  him  as  would  make  him  a  misery  to  himself  and 
a  terror  to  his  neighbours.  The  document  was  then 
burned,  and  now  the  formal  indictment  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  unseen  spirit  that  is  supposed  to  reside  in  the 
idol. 

The  defendant  then  stood  forth  and  declared  his 
perfect  innocence  of  the  crime  with  which  he  had  been 
charged.  A  critical  observer  would  have  been  inclined 
to  believe  him  from  his  ingenuous  and  truth-like 
appearance,  although  in  China  this  is  not  always  a 
test  that  can  be  relied  upon,  for  the  Chinese  have  the 
most  remarkable  faces  in  the  world,  perhaps,  for  con- 
cealing their  thoughts.  They  can  tell  the  most  dread- 
ful lies  without  the  least  change  of  colour,  or  without 
any  ripple  of  emotion  passing  over  their  features  to 
betray  the  story  that  lies  deeply  hidden  within  their 
hearts.  If  possible,  they  appear  more  serenely  calm 
and  unruffled  when  with  eloquent  gesture  and  pathetic 
look  they  are  manufacturing  some  plausible  answer  to 
a  very  grave  accusation. 

Whilst  he  is  talking  he  looks  agitated,  and  a  pale 
greenish  hue,  which  might  be  an  indication  of  guilt, 
tinges  his  sallow  features.  This,  however,  might  be 
accounted  for  by  the  peculiarly  solemn  circumstances 
in  which  he  was  placed,  for  the  taking  of  this  oath  is 
one  of  the  most  dreaded  ceremonies  in  the  whole  range 
of  Chinese  life.  After  denying  that  he  had  anything 
to  do  with  the  stolen  money,  he  proceeds  in  the  most 
awful  language  to  call  down  the  vengeance  of  the 
god  upon  himself  if  he  has.  He  prays  that  sickness 
may  blight  his  family,  that  his  own  life  may  become 
a  torture  to  himself,  that  poverty  may  hold  him  in  its 
perpetual  grip  and  the  direst  sorrows  cast  their 
shadows  upon  and  never  leave  him,  and  that  finally 
death  may  suddenly  seize  upon  him,  just  as  happens 
to  the  cock,  and  with  one  blow  of  a  chopper  that  he 
holds  in  his  hand,  he  strikes  off  its  head,  and  the  poor 
thing  lies  quivering  on  the  ground,  with  its  life  blood 
gushing  out  in  red  streams  from  its  body. 

The  scene  is  terribly  weird  and  gruesome,  and  in 
some    great    painter's    hand    would    make    a    splendid 


TEMPLE  OF  THE  EMPEROR  OF  THE   CITY    139 

subject  for  a  picture.  The  crowd  standing  silent  and 
absorbed  in  the  crowning  act,  when  the  man  severs 
the  head  of  the  cock  and  declares  amidst  terrible  impre- 
cations upon  himself  that  he  is  innocent  of  the  theft  ; 
the  two  chief  actors  in  this  drama  that  is  being  played 
to-day,  with  passion  and  fierce  resentment  depicted  on 
their  faces,  as  they  both  appeal  to  the  unseen  powers 
that  are  beheved  to  right  the  wrongs  of  this  human  life 
of  ours  ;  and  the  god,  stern  and  solemn,  looking  down 
calmly  on  the  upturned  faces  of  the  crowd,  whilst 
the  secretary  seems  absorbed  in  the  process  of  record- 
ing every  word  that  is  being  uttered  in  this  doubtful 
case,  are  scenes  that,  transferred  by  the  hand  of  genius 
to  canvas,  would  produce  a  picture  of  startling  and 
abiding   interest. 

The  crowd  now  begins  to  disperse.  The  excitement 
is  over,  for  the  case  has  passed  out  of  human  control 
and  is  in  the  hands  of  the  gjod.  The  battered,  dis- 
reputable figures  at  the  door,  though  they  have  never 
moved  from  the  position  they  were  in  when  we  entered, 
and  their  strange,  grotesque  attitudes  are  the  same,  are 
believed  to  have  already  received  the  commands  of 
their  superior  and  have  even  now  taken  their  first  steps 
in  that  silent,  relentless  pursuit  after  the  thief  that 
shall  end  in  his  detection  and  punishment. 

It  turned  out  a  few  days  after  the  scene  I  have 
described,  that  the  real  culprit,  terrified  by  the  thought 
of  the  awful  judgments  that  the  man  who  had  been 
falsely  accused  had  called  upon  the  god  to  hurl  upon 
him  if  he  were  guilty,  and  fearful  that  the  idol  might 
visit  him  with  these,  took  measures  to  restore  the 
money  to  the  owner  without  revealing  his  identity. 
This,  however,  the  latter  was  not  much  concerned 
about.  He  had  recovered  his  property,  and  his  mind 
was  too  happy  to  care  much  as  to  the  question  how  it 
had  disappeared. 

He  had,  however,  an  important  duty  now  to  perform, 
viz.,  to  appear  before  the  god  and  stay  further  pro- 
ceedings against  the  man  whom  he  had  falsely  accused. 
Until  this  was  done,  the  accusation,  just  as  in  the 
civil  courts,  would  still  be  in  force  against  him,  as 
the  god  was  not  supposed  to  be  cognisant  of  the 
quashing    of    the    case    until    the    petition    had    been 


140    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

formally  withdrawn.  He  accordingly  presented  himself 
before  the  idol  and  offering  some  incense  and  paper 
money,  he  informed  it  that  the  money  had  been  re- 
covered, and  that  now  he  wished  to  withdraw  the 
accusation  against  the  man  whom  he  had  previously 
charged  with  the  theft.  He  also  thanked  the  god  for 
the  prompt  way  in  which  it  had  acted  on  his  behalf, 
and  bowing  profoundly,  left  with  a  grateful  heart. 

It  seems  a  remarkable  thing  that  so  shrewd  and 
intelligent  a  people  as  the  Chinese  should  believe  that 
these  wooden  figures  should  have  such  a  tremendous 
power  in  human  life  as  they  ascribe  to  them.  And  yet 
when  one  reasons  out  the  matter  it  will  not  seem  so 
surprising.  The  fathers  of  this  nation  elected  ages  ago 
to  depose  God  from  His  universe,  and  to  put  the  idols 
in  His  place.  This  they  succeeded  in  doing,  but  they 
could  not  eradicate  the  profound  instinct  in  every  man 
that  leads  him  to  look  outside  of  life  to  some  great 
Being  to  whom  he  may  appeal  when  sorrow  comes,  and 
when  the  heart  is  crushed  with  oppression  and  no  help 
can  be  found  in  man  to  deliver  him. 

This  temple  is  the  only  place  where  an  oath  of  any 
kind  is  taken.  In  no  other  would  it  be  binding  on  the 
conscience  of  any  one.  A  man  would  have  no  objec- 
tion to  swear  any  number  of  oaths  anywhere  else,  and 
he  would  do  so  with  a  light  heart  even  though  every 
one  of  them  was  false.  The  mandarins  know  this,  so 
in  criminal  cases  where  the  truth  is  to  be  elicited  they 
prefer  the  judicious  use  of  a  stout  bamboo  rod  to  an 
oath.  It  is  more  persuasive  and  does  not  demoralise 
the  conscience.  An  oath,  however,  before  the  Emperor 
of  the  City,  with  his  supernatural  surroundings  and 
his  dread  terrors  and  the  fearful  tortures  that  are 
believed  will  follow  any  false  swearing  in  his  court, 
makes  the  worst  men  hesitate. 

Many  instances  are  given  where  reckless  swearing  has 
been  followed  by  instant  punishment.  A  remarkable 
case  occurred  in  a  well-known  southern  city.  A  rich 
man  had  got  possession  of  the  ancestral  home  of  a 
family  that  had  come  down  in  the  world.  A  sudden 
turn  in  the  wheel  of  fortune  had  enriched  one  of  its 
members  and  he  wished  to  redeem  the  property.  The 
rich  man   refused   to   give   it  up,   on   the   plea   that   it 


TEMPLE  OF  THE  EMPEROR  OF  THE  CITY  141 

had  always  belonged  to  him.  An  appeal  was  made  to 
the  chief  mandarin  of  the  city  to  compel  him  to  restore 
it  to  the  rightful  owners. 

This  official  happened  to  be  one  of  those  upright 
men  who  are  found  occaisionally  in  office,  who  was 
impervious  to  a  bribe,  and  who  was  desirous  that  justice 
should  be  done  without  respect  to  the  position  or 
character  of  the  parties.  He  foresaw,  however,  that 
there  would  be  difficulties  in  the  case,  as  the  rich  man 
had  not  only  wealth  to  back  him  but  also  influential 
family  connections  that  would  enable  him  to  resist  any 
judgment  that  might  be  given  against  him,  so  he  deter- 
mined to  try  the  lawsuit,  not  in  his  own  yamen  but  in 
the  temple  of  the  Emperor. 

Accordingly,  on  the  day  appointed,  he  established 
his  tribunal  in  front  of  the  idol  and  summoned  the 
parties  before  him.  After  the  case  had  proceeded  for 
some  time,  he  said:  *'  I  see  that  there  are  great  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  the  settlement  of  this  question. 
You  both  produce  deeds  that  seem  to  show  that  the 
house  belongs  to  both  of  you.  This  cannot  possibly 
be  the  case,  so  I  propose  that  we  leave  the  decision 
to  the  god  and  let  him  decide  who  is  the  rightful  owner." 

The  prosecutor  gladly  agreed  to  this  suggestion, 
whilst  the  rich  man  for  very  shame  was  compelled  to 
consent. 

Messengers  were  sent  out  to  purchase  a  white  cock, 
and  a  formal  statement  of  the  case  was  drawn  up 
to  be  presented  to  the  god.  When  these  preliminaries 
had  been  settled,  the  mandarin  moved  aside  and 
formally  handed  over  the  case  to  the  idol.  The  rich 
man  then  stood  forward,  document  in  hand  and  the 
cock  held  by  one  of  his  servants.  His  friends  had 
gathered  round  him  to  support  his  claim,  and  several 
of  his  sons  stood  near  him.  The  idol,  stern  and  un- 
moved, looked  over  the  strange  gathering  with  a  face 
that  seemed  to  be  filled  with  indignation,  whilst  his 
secretary  with  head  down  and  eyes  fixed  upon  his  paper 
appeared  to  be  occupied  with  taking  down  the  evidence. 
The  rich  man  had  proceeded  with  his  oath  and  had 
got  to  the  point  where  he  was  calling  down  impreca- 
tions on  himself  and  lunging  at  the  cock  with  the 
chopper,   when   all   at   once   there   was   a   scream  and 


142    MEN  AND   MANNERS   OF  MODERN  CHINA 

then  dire  confusion  and  terrified  expressions  of  wonder, 
for  there  lay  on  the  ground  one  of  his  sons  struck  down 
with  paralysis.  The  mandarin  now  stepped  forward 
and  said:  "I  adjudge  that  the  house  be  handed  over 
to  the  prosecutor,  for  the  god  has  plainly  shown  to 
whom  it  really  belongs,  and  he  has  also  expressed  his 
indignation  by  striking  down  the  son  of  the  man  who 
falsely  claimed  that  it  was  his." 

This  is  not  a  solitary  instance  where  immediate  judg- 
ment has  followed  the  taking  of  a  false  oath.  Many 
stories  abound  with  regard  to  the  special  intervention 
of  this  god  in  righting  the  wrongs  of  society,  and  so 
his  temple  is  looked  upon  with  a  considerable  amount 
of  dread,  and  men  fear  to  come  under  the  lash  of  this 
dread  and  most  potent  Emperor. 


CHAPTER     XI 

MOUNTAIN    TEMPLES 

The  early  founders  of  Buddhism  ^  in  China  must  have 
had  a  profound  love  of  the  beautiful  in  Nature,  and 
have  had  at  the  same  time  the  genius  to  transmit  the 
same  to  the  long  line  of  priests  and  abbots  that  have 
since  succeeded  them  throughout  the  empire.  We  are 
led  to  this  conclusion  by  the  fact  that  the  priests  of 
the  present  day  show  the  most  exquisite  taste  in  the 
selection  of  spots  where  they  build  their  temples  and 
monasteries,  wherever  Nature  gives  them  a  chance  to 
do  so.  These  shaven,  unwashed,  and  uneducated  men, 
with  low  and  sensual  faces,  and  with  no  home  ties  to 
help  to  purify  their  thoughts,  seem  the  very  last  men  to 
have  the  artistic  faculty  within  them.  And  yet,  set 
them  to  select  some  place  where  a  future  temple  is  to 
be  built,  and,  with  the  instinct  of  the  poet  in  their 
hearts  and  with  the  eye  of  the  artist  who  has  caught 
the  secret  of  Nature's  charms,  they  will  select  the  very 
spot  where  the  soul  may  spend  years  of  solitude  and 
retirement  without  being  reduced  to  despair  by  its 
surroundings.  With  the  mountain  peaks  around,  the 
great  silent  valleys  stretching  at  their  feet,  the  musical 
echoes  of  rustling  streams,  and  the  inarticulate  sounds 
that  Nature  is  ever  uttering,  they  are  enabled  to  spend 
the  years  of  a  solitude  that  otherwise  might  have  driven 
them  to  despair. 

But  let  me  try  and  describe  in  as  vivid  colours  as  I 
can  one  of  these  Buddhist  temples.  The  time  I  shall 
begin  with  is  the  hour  just  before  the  dawn.  Everything 
is  shrouded  in  darkness,  huge  boulders  that  lie  around 
the   monastery   in   fantastic   shapes   seem  like   sleeping 

*  Buddhism  was  first  brought  to  China  in  a.d.  6o,  during  the  reign  of 
the  Emperor  Ming,  of  the  Later  Han  Dynasty. 

143 


144    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

dragons  watching  over  it  during  the  night.  A  profound 
silence  reigns  everywhere,  and  the  very  pines  that  stand 
near  by  are  as  erect  and  as  motionless  as  though  they 
were  sentinels  on  guard. 

All  at  once,  as  if  a  miracle  had  been  wrought,  the 
mountain  ridge  away  in  the  front  seems  to  drop  its 
mantle  of  darkness,  and  to  become  dimly  visible.  It 
looks  as  though  some  conjurer  were  at  work,  for  in 
a  moment  or  two  a  delicate  light  that  seems  to  belong 
to  another  world  trembles  shyly  at  its  top.  With 
another  wave  of  his  wand  sunbeams  like  golden  threads 
flash  through  the  twilight  and  weave  themselves  in  and 
out  in  various  colours.  Soon  the  mountain  crests  and 
peaks  are  crowned  with  sunlight  that  slowly  travels 
down  the  sides  of  the  hill,  peers  into  the  dim  caverns, 
and  plays  around  the  giant  boulders,  under  which  run 
murmuring  rills  that  are  to  grow  into  the  rushing, 
foaming  torrent  that  leaps,  with  a  mad  joy  in  its  heart, 
farther   down   the   mountain-side. 

And  now  the  sun  rises  higher  and  higher,  and  his 
long,  flashing  rays  light  up  the  ravine  on  the  edge  of 
which  the  temple  is  perched.  What  a  view  it  has  to 
look  upon  this  glorious  morning!  The  mountains  are 
bathed  in  light,  the  shadows  chasing  each  other  like 
schoolboys  along  their  rugged  sides  ;  the  sea  in  the 
distance,  touched  with  the  morning  glory,  gleams  like 
a  lake  of  gold,  and  the  far-off  peaks  seem  so  distant 
that  they  must  verily  belong  to  another  world— these 
are  the  sights  upon  which  the  priest  may  gaze  and 
forget  that  he  is  alone. 

It  would  seem,  indeed,  as  though  the  sun  had  been 
putting  forth  its  wondrous  powers  to  make  him  forget 
how  solitary  he  is.  It  cannot  be  for  any  one  else,  for 
there  is  no  other  human  being  within  a  mile  of  him, 
but  this  matters  not  to  the  sunbeams.  They  penetrate 
into  his  temple  and  light  up  the  trees  as  they  pass,  they 
gleam  about  the  courtyard  and  playfully  brighten  up  the 
wooden  gods  that  send  back  no  response  to  them,  and 
they  seem  all  the  while  to  be  saying:  "  We  will  have 
no  dullness  where  we  are.  We  drive  the  shadows  from 
the  hillsides,  and  from  the  great  chasms  where  only  we 
can  tread.  We  touch  the  clouds,  and  their  sombre  looks 
vanish,  and  colours  tremble  through  that  artists  in  every 


A   PKIKST   IN   THE   COURTYARD   OF   THE    "WHITE   DEER"  TEMP 


To  face  p.  145. 


MOUNTAIN  TEMPLES  145 

age  have  tried  in  vain  to  put  upon  their  canvas.  We 
come  too  into  the  hearts  of  men  and  we  banish  despair  ; 
we  turn  the  sigh  into  a  song,  and  if  men  and  women 
would  only  let  us  we  would  make  their  lives  as  beautiful 
as  the  face  of  Nature  that  breaks  into  smiles  every  time 
we  flash  across  it." 

These  temples  usually  have  a  high  reputation  amongst 
the  people  on  the  plain,  because  of  the  wonders  they 
are  believed  to  work  in  curing  disease,  in  warding  off 
ill-fortune,  in  bringing  prosperity  to  the  home,  and  in 
a  thousand  different  ways  easing  the  burdens  which 
press  upon  the  life  of  the  people.  All  day  long  solitary 
figures  may  be  seen  ascending  the  winding  road  that 
leads  over  stone  steps,  and  under  overhanging  trees,  and 
across  rustic  bridges,  up  to  the  temple  where  the  gods 
sit  in  silence  within  their  shrines. 

A  visit  to  one  of  these  is  full  of  interest,  as  it  enables 
one  to  see  the  real  attitude  of  the  Chinese  towards 
idolatry,  and  how  with  unquestioning  faith  in  the  wooden 
images  they  combine  a  vast  amount  of  irreverence  and 
disrespect.  A  very  good  specimen  temple,  that  stands 
outside  a  busy  commercial  city  with  over  a  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants,  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  sample  of 
all  such  similar  buildings  in  China.  It  is  an  exceedingly 
popular  one  and  is  known  by  the  name  of  "  The  White 
Deer." 

The  tradition  goes  that  a  fairy  who,  evidently  for 
very  suspicious  reasons,  had  assumed  the  form  of  a  deer 
was  suddenly  caught  sight  of  by  a  number  of  dogs  and 
pursued  over  hill  and  dale.  The  magic  powers  of  the 
fairy  seemed  to  have  failed  her  at  this  crisis,  for  her 
pursuers  pressed  her  so  long  and  so  closely  that  she 
at  last  fell  exhausted  and  died  just  as  the  hounds 
reached  her. 

An  artist  whose  knowledge  of  perspective  was  ex- 
ceedingly deficient,  and  whose  soul  had  no  poetic  instinct 
to  picture  the  scene  as  Michel  Angelo  would  have  done, 
has  tried  to  perpetuate  the  story  by  the  figure  of  a 
badly-shaped  deer,  lying  in  a  most  ungraceful  and 
inartistic  posture  on  a  shelving  rock. 

The  first  glimpse  of  this  invariably  produces  a  smile, 
but  the  thought  that  we  are  in  the  presence  of  an  attempt 
at  high  art  quickly  sobers  us,  and  we  try  and  look  as 

10 


146    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

pleased  as  though  we  were  looking  at  the  production 
of  one  of  our  most  famous  sculptors.  After  a  time, 
as  the  story  got  abroad,  the  people  of  the  city  near 
by  subscribed  sufficient  funds  to  build  a  temple  to  her 
memory.  There  is  no  question  but  that  the  deer  was 
a  true  artist  by  nature.  A  more  romantic  spot  where 
she  chose  to  breathe  her  last  would  be  difficult  to  find. 
It  is  on  the  slope  of  a  hill  that  rises  somewhat  abruptly 
from  the  very  edge  of  the  large  and  populous  city.  A 
path  that  winds  through  gardens  and  amongst  dilapi- 
dated graves  leads  us  gradually  up  until  we  stand  above 
the  town.  Then  a  series  of  steps,  scarred  by  time  and 
falling  into  decay,  but  whose  weakness  is  disguised  by 
mosses  and  grass,  that  with  tender  hand  would  hide 
the  signs  of  age  and  decay,  brings  us  still  higher  to  a 
most    romantic    spot. 

Here  we  have  a  situation  which  of  all  others  seems 
adapted  for  retirement  and  meditation.  Great  rocks  and 
mighty  boulders,  that  Time  with  her  patient  hand  has 
smoothed  and  rounded,  lie  thickly  strewn  around  in  that 
artless  way  with  which  Nature  can  drape  these  unwieldy 
forms  into  the  most  artistic  attitudes.  In  the  midst  of 
these  the  temple  of  "  The  White  Deer  "  lies  enshrined. 
The  beauty  of  the  position  is  greatly  enhanced  by  the 
natural  grottos  that  are  formed  by  overhanging  rocks 
and  projecting  boulders,  that  cluster  around  as  though 
the  fairies  had  flung  them  with  graceful  hand  into  posi- 
tions where  they  could  serve  as  resting-places  for  the 
visitors  after  their  steep  climb  from  the  city  below. 
Stone  seats  have  been  placed  within  these  where  one 
can  sit  under  the  shadow  of  the  rocks,  certain  that 
no  burning  sun  shall  send  its  fiery  rays  to  inter- 
fere with  the  delightful  coolness  that  always  reigns 
within. 

The  interior  of  the  temple  is  disappointing.  The 
floor  is  unswept,  and  the  walls  show  where  the  dust  has 
gathered  in  crevices  and  on  the  uneven  surfaces,  as 
though  it  were  no  one's  business  to  have  it  swept.  The 
place  where  the  idol  is  enshrined  is  perhaps  the  most 
dusty  and  uncared  for  in  the  whole  building.  The 
yellow  cloth  that  is  thrown  over  its  head  is  stained 
and  frowsy-looking,  so  that  we  feel  that  we  would 
like  to  take  it  and  the  god  and  give  them  both  a  good 


MOUNTAIN  TEMPLES  147 

washing.  Everything  has  a  cheap  and  third-rate  look 
about  it.  There  is  nothing  to  excite  reverence  or  make 
one  feel  that  this  is  a  sacred  place,  that  one  ought  to 
take  off  one's  hat  and  stand  hushed  and  in  awe  because 
of  the  presence  of  the  supernatural. 

The  very  reverse  is  the  case.  The  atmosphere  of 
the  place  is  such  as  to  induce  every  one  to  walk  about 
and  examine  it  as  one  would  a  very  inferior  curiosity 
shop,  and  make  jokes  and  behave  as  though  one  were 
on  a  picnic  and  bound  to  be  as  jolly  and  facetious 
as  possible.  That  the  effect  on  the  Chinese  around  is 
precisely  this  is  evident  from  their  conduct.  They  do 
not  tread  on  tiptoe  as  though  afraid  to  break  the  solemn 
silence  by  their  footfall  ;  neither  do  they  walk  with 
bowed  heads  as  though  conscious  of  the  overpowering 
presence  of  the  god.  They  crack  their  peanuts  and 
throw  the  shells  on  the  floor.  They  even  light  their 
pipes  and,  with  broad  grins  at  some  joke,  puff  the 
smoke  out,  unconscious  that  they  are  paying  any  dis- 
respect to  the  "  Goddess  of  Mercy  "  that  looks  down 
upon  them  with  a  benignant  and  placid  air.  They  are 
as  jovial  and  light-hearted  as  though  coming  to  a 
feast.  They  talk  and  jest  with  each  other  ;  laughter 
echoes  round  the  building,  and  smiles  cover  faces  at 
some  funny  saying  that  has  touched  their  sense  of  the 
ludicrous. 

The  Chinese  is  a  person  who  is  utterly  devoid  of 
reverence,  sentiment,  or  devotion  in  his  religion.  With 
him  it  is  a  matter  either  of  fear  or  of  business,  but 
mainly  of  the  latter.  A  house  is  plagued  with  sickness, 
which  is  put  down,  not  to  bad  sanitation  or  other  natural 
causes  but  to  the  presence  of  evil  spirits.  This  leads 
to  a  visit  to  the  nearest  temple  to  get  the  idol  to  drive 
them  away.  A  new  business  is  going  to  be  commenced,, 
but  before  beginning  it  is  deemed  essential  to  get  the 
support  of  the  idols.  If  one  idol  says  it  will  not 
succeed,  another  is  appealed  to  for  its  opinion,  and  if  it 
be  favourable,  it  is  at  once  accepted  as  the  correct  one. 
Should  the  venture  turn  out  a  failure,  no  reproach 
of  any  kind  is  uttered  against  the  god  whose  prediction 
has  been  falsified.  The  man  takes  the  blame  upon 
himself.  His  character  has  not  been  pure,  he  says, 
or  he  was  born  under  an  evil  star,  or  he  was  naturally 


148    MEN  AND  MANNERS   OF  MODERN  CHINA 

unlucky  and  so  was  bound  to  fail  in  anything  that  he 
undertook. 

Men  never  dream  of  thinking  about  their  idols  as  we 
do  about  God.     No  affection  is  shown  for  them,  neither 
are   they  credited   with   any  tender  or   human   feeling 
toward   any   one   that   supplicates   their  mercy.      It   is 
most  amusing  to  watch  the  faces  of  the  Chinese  when 
you  ask  them  if  the  idols  love  them.     A  look  of  amuse- 
ment at  once  flashes  into  them.     The  eyes  gleam,  the 
face  broadens  into  a  wide  grin,  and  soon  hearty  laughter 
is  heard  at  this  most  humorous  and  side-splitting  joke. 
As  we  enter  the  main  room  where  the  chief  idol  sits 
enshrined,  the  priest   in  charge   advances   to  meet  us. 
We  are  startled  by  his  looks,  for  he  has  very  much  the 
appearance  of  an  extremely  emaciated  coTpse  that  has 
been   spending  the   night   in   dissipation,   and   has   not 
yet  rallied  from  the  effects  of  it.     He  is  tall  and  fragile- 
looking,   and  so  thin  that   his   Mongolian  cheek-bones 
project  in  an  exaggerated  fashion  from  his  face,  which 
seems    to    have    nothing    left    upon    it    but    a    kind    of 
dried-up    parchment,    from    which    every    particle    of 
moisture  has   evaporated.      His  eyes  are   sunken,   and 
though   they   must   have    been   good   at   one   time,   the 
sparkle  that  he  tries  to  put  into  them  when  he  speaks 
to  us  is  a  feeble,  clouded  one  and  only  reveals  to  us 
that  he  is  a  confirmed  opium -smoker.     The  whole  look 
of  the  man   is   a  ghastly  one,   and  were  he   deprived 
of  his  priest's  frock,  and  put  on  the  roadside  in  the 
street   below,   he   wo-uld   hardly   bear  comparison   with 
some  of  the  most  wretched  outcasts  found  there  amongst 
the  beggar  fraternity. 

To-day,  it  seems,  is  a  special  one  with  the  Chinese, 
for  it  is  the  first  day  of  the  new  moon,  and  as  there  is 
a  belief  that  the  idols  are  more  propitious  on  this  day, 
as  well  as  on  the  day  of  the  full  moon,  large  numbers 
have  come  up  from  the  crowded,  ill-smelling  streets  to 
present  their  petitions  to  them.  It  is  on  occasions  like 
this  that  the  priest  reaps  his  harvest  and  gathers  in 
sufficient  money  during  these  two  days  of  the  month 
by  the  sale  of  incense  sticks  and  paper  money  to  keep 
him  in  idleness  for  the  rest  of  the  month. 

But  let  us  sit  down  on  this  stone  seat  under  the 
great    banyan -tree    that   stretches    its    huge    boughs    to 


MOUNTAIN  TEMPLES  149 

shelter  us  from  the  sun's  rays,  and  let  us  watch  the 
people  as  they  come.  Here  is  an  old  lady  between  fifty 
and  sixty.  Her  feet  have  been  bound  so  small  that  it 
is  a  wonder  how  she  has  managed  to  mount  the  broken, 
uneven  steps  up  the  hillside.  She  could  not  possibly 
have  done  so  had  not  her  sturdy  grandson,  who  has 
come  with  her,  helped  her  up.  Her  face  is  a  good 
one  and  has  the  mother  element  strongly  impressed  upon 
it.  It  shows,  too,  that  she  has  an  active  mind,  and  one 
imbued  with  a  considerable  amount  of  common  sense. 
We  are  struck,  however,  with  its  paleness  and  the  weary 
look  which  lurks  beneath  the  pleasant  smile  that  lies 
as  a  background  behind  the  loving  flash  of  her  coal- 
black  eyes,  as  they  rest  with  affection  upon  the  bright, 
cheery -faced  lad  by  her  side.  Stopping  only  for  a 
moment  to  take  her  breath  after  the  steep  climb,  she 
buys  a  bundle  of  incense  sticks  from  the  priest  and  goes 
straight  into  the  presence  of  the  goddess.  Here  she 
stands  as  motionless  as  a  statue,  with  her  hands  clasped 
high  above  her  head,  in  a  supplicating  attitude,  and 
her  eyes  fixed  upon  the  placid,  benevolent  face  of  the 
image  before  her. 

In  a  low  voice  she  tells  how  of  late  she  has  been 
troubled  with  failing  health.  She  cannot  sleep  at 
nights,  her  appetite  is  gone,  and  though  she  has  called 
in  many  doctors  she  is  getting  worse  and  worse.  Will 
not  the  goddess  exercise  her  great  power  and  give 
her  back  the  strength  she  has  lost?  It  is  pathetic  to 
mark  the  rapt  devotion  of  the  old  lady  as  she  pours 
forth  her  entreaties  to  the  silent  dust -covered  figure 
before  her,  never  dreaming  of  any  immediate  response, 
but  willing  to  wait  the  will  of  the  idol. 

As  she  retired,  her  place  was  at  once  occupied  by 
another,  and  so  a  continuous  stream  of  worshippers 
succeeded  each  other  with  their  petitions.  This  one 
wanted  health,  another  came  to  pray  for  success  in 
business,  whilst  yet  another  came  to  appeal  for  help 
to  prevent  a  man  from  forcibly  taking  possession  of  his 
ancestral  acres.  One  young  man,  who  interested  me 
greatly  by  his  fresh,  ingenuous -looking  face,  told  me 
that  he  had  just  asked  the  idol  if  it  could  not  get  a 
-situation  for  him.  He  had  been  for  some  months  out 
of  employment,  and  had  gone  to  a  number  of  temples 


150    MEN  AND  MANNERS   OF  MODERN  CHINA 

to  supplicate  the  gods  in  them,  but  they  had  all  given 
unsatisfactory  answers,  and  so  he  had  come  here  to  see 
what  the  goddess  would  do  for  him. 

Considerable  numbers  of  people  were  visiting  the 
temple  as  a  matter  of  pleasure,  and  without  any  refer- 
ence to  the  idols.  It  was  a  rare  treat  for  most  of  them 
to  get  away  from  the  narrow  streets,  with  their 
unsavoury  odours,  hot,  stifling  air  and  commonplace, 
poverty  stricken  looking  houses  that  everywhere  obtrude 
themselves  upon  the  eye  of  the  passer-by.  Sauntering 
along  in  the  wake  of  some  of  these,  we  suddenly 
emerged  into  a  huge  grotto,  formed  by  the  junction  of 
six  titanic  boulders.  The  air  was  cool  and  delicious^ 
so  we  sat  down  on  one  of  the  stone  benches  that  had 
been  placed  for  the  use  of  visitors,  and  admired  the 
cunning  way  in  which  some  great  catastrophe  in  ancient 
times  had  so  nicely  and  so  mathematically  balanced 
these  gaunt  stones.  The  most  skilled  engineer  that  ever 
lived  could  not  have  so  disposed  of  them  to  be  a 
permanent  record  of  his  genius,  for  though  hundreds  of 
years  have  passed  by,  and  countless  rainy  seasons  have 
poured  down  their  torrents  upon  them,  and  mighty 
typhoons  with  the  hoarse  roar  of  ten  thousand  giants  in 
their  voice  have  tried  to  hurl  them  from  their  place, 
they  have  all  failed,  and  to-day  they  are  as  strong  as 
though  the  silent  workmen  of  the  past  had  put  them  in 
position  only  yesterday. 

We  enjoy  the  cool,  fresh  air  of  this  wonderful  grotto, 
and  watch  the  people  from  the  hot,  sultry  streets 
luxuriating  in  this  sunless  cave.  With  a  sigh  of  relief 
they  throw  down  their  fans  on  the  stone  tables,  and  are 
soon  busy  chattering  with  each  other  over  the  fragrant 
cups  of  tea  that  an  attendant  has  brought  in.  The 
Chinese  is  an  ideal  man  for  enjoying  a  picnic.  There 
is  no  rushing  about,  neither  does  he  go  wild  with  ex- 
citement and  so  exhaust  himself.  He  takes  things 
calmly,  sips  his  tea  and  lets  the  aroma  of  every  mouthful 
wander  in  a  leisurely  manner  around  his  palate.  He 
smiles,  chats,  makes  his  jokes,  and  dallies  over  the 
sweetmeats  and  th,e  cakes,  but  gives  no  thought  to  the 
passing  of  time,  beyond  an  occasional  glance  at  the  sun 
to  see  how  the  day  is  going.  By  and  by,  with  a  sigh, 
he  will  say,   "  Now  let  us  go."     The  time  is  up  and 


J 


■■^^^^^tWcc'^" 


MOUNTAIN  TEMPLES  151 

he  knows  it,  and  with  a  philosophic  air  he  will  resume 
his  fan,  and  his  hot,  stifling  life  in  the  dusty  streets,  as 
though  he  had  never  known  the  pure  and  breezy  air  of 
the  monastery. 

Leaving  this  delightful  grotto,  we  proceeded  up  a 
narrow  stone  staircase,  when  we  suddenly  found  our- 
selves in  a  scene  most  unexpected  and  at  the  same  time 
one  that  gave  us  a  vast  amount  of  enjoyment.  It  was 
a  large  and  spacious  room,  partly  roofed  and  partly 
opened  to  the  heavens,  and  benches  and  tables  were 
liberally  distributed  throughout  it  for  the  use  of  visitors. 
It  was  in  reality  a  subsidiary  temple  of  the  god  of 
war,  who  sat  with  a  solemn  face  in  his  shrine.  The 
ghastly,  skeleton-looking  priest  evidently  saw  no  reason 
why  religious  devotion  and  business  should  not  be 
successfully  combined.  He  accordingly  fitted  up  the 
place  in  such  a  way  as  to  attract  prospective  pleasure- 
seekers.  That  he  had  succeeded  was  evident  from 
numerous  testimonials  scribbled  on  the  whitewashed 
walls  by  members  of  convivial  parties  that  had  occupied 
the  room.  One  of  these  with  more  force  than  good 
grammar  declared  that  "  this  is  a  place  to  take  a  joy." 
To-day  the  room  was  engaged  by  a  party  of  English 
people  who  had  come  to  enjoy  themselves  for  the 
afternoon.  There  were  about  a  dozen  of  them,  and 
amongst  them  were  several  young  girls  who  were 
brimming  over  with  fun  and  excitement,  and  who  had 
evidently  made  up  their  minds  to  make  the  most  of 
every  moment  at  their  disposal. 

The  tables  and  chairs  had  been  moved  to  one  side, 
and  some  of  our  English  games  were  being  played, 
much  to  the  amusement  of  the  groups  of  Chinese  who 
gazed  with  wonder  and  astonishment  at  the  antics 
of  the  merry  party.  **  Puss-in-the-corner^"  "  Tom 
Tiddler's  ground,"  *'  Base,"  and  "  Kiss-in-the-ring," 
were  successively  played,  and  the  place  rang  again  with 
shouts  of  laughter,  as  one  after  another  was  caught 
and  prisoners  were  made  and  released  again.  Even 
the  Chinese  became  excited  as  the  fortunes  of  the  game 
varied,  and  I  saw  the  eyes  of  staid,  sober  men  who  had 
never  run  since  they  were  boys,  sparkling  with  excite- 
ment. They  seemed  to  be  longing  for  an  invitation  to 
join  in  the  romp  ;    and  even  the  opium-visaged  priest 


152    MEN  AND  MANNERS   OF  MODERN  CHINA 

with  cadaverous -looking  face  was  moved  by  the  scene 
before  him,  and  his  dull  eyes  glistened  and  his  limbs 
quivered  as  though  at  the  slightest  provocation  he  would 
have  rushed  into  the  whirling  throng  that  were  racing 
after  each  other  and  filling  the  neighbouring  rocks  with 
the  echoes  of  their  merry  voices. 

The  only  calm  and  sedate  being  in  the  whole  scene 
was  the  stern -looking  god  of  war,  who  seemed  to  look 
on  with  wonder,  not  unmixed  with  pleasure,  at  the 
antics  and  peals  of  laughter  and  smiling  faces  of  the 
party  before  him.  It  required  no  very  strong  flight  of 
imagination  to  believe  that  now  and  again  he  indulged 
in  a  wink,  when  no  one  was  looking  at  him,  and  that 
nothing  but  a  stern  resolve  to  preserve  his  dignity  in 
the  presence  of  his  worshippers  kept  him  from  stepping 
down  and  joining  in  the  merry  revels.  At  length  the 
sun  began  to  disappear  beyond  the  lofty  peaks  of  the 
mountains  in  the  west,  and  long,  trailing  shadows  flung 
themselves  across  the  plain  and  up  the  sides  of  the 
hills.  The  visitors  with  one  consent  made  preparations 
to  return  to  their  homes.  The  priest  with  the  ghastly 
face,  and  eyes  peering  out  of  their  deep  sockets,  kept 
close  to  the  departing  crowd  to  collect  his  fees  for  the 
use  of  the  room,  and  for  the  supply  of  boiling  water 
for  the  tea-making.  People  shrank  from  him  instinc- 
tively, as  a  man  that  no  honest  person  might  keep 
company  with,  and  the  money  that  was  paid  him  was 
dropped  into  his  crow-like  fingers  as  though  the  touch 
of  his  hand  would  contaminate  theirs. 

As  we  bade  farewell  to  the  place,  we  d,id  so  with 
regret.  The  day  itself,  as  far  as  ouj  outing  had  been 
concerned,  had  been  an  ideal  one,  and  everything  had 
combined  to  make  it  so.  The  temple  was  a  perfect 
one  for  a  picnic,  for  no  choicer  nor  more  beautiful 
place  could  have  been  selected  for  it.  Rocks  were 
tossed  about  in  the  most  artless  and  fantastic  shapes, 
while  huge  pine-trees  growing  out  of  their  clefts  gave  a 
wildness  and  picturesqueness  to  the  building  that  was 
nestled  in  their  midst.  The  panorama  in  front  was  as 
charming  as  Nature  in  her  most  artistic  mood  could 
have  devised.  The  great  mountains  in  the  distance 
were  bathed  in  floods  of  sunshine.  The  river  that 
wound  its   way   across   the  plain   looked  like  a  silver 


MOUNTAIN  TEMPLES  153 

thread  that  some  fairy  had  dropped  in  passing,  whilst 
the  fields,  clad  in  the  emerald  green  of  the  growing 
rice,  and  dotted  with  countless  trees,  seemed  like  an 
immense  park  that  had  been  laid  out  by  an  army  of 
cunning  workmen. 

The  one  disappointing  thing  was  the  interior  of  the 
temple.  Everything  there  was  so  tawdry  and  mean- 
looking.  The  wooden  gods  were  dressed  in  cheap 
yellow-coloured  cottons,  stained  and  disfigured  by  years 
of  dust  that  had  lain  undisturbed  upon  them.  The 
floors  were  unswept  and  unwashed,  showing  that  a 
woman's  hand  was  needed,  and  soap  and  water  to  take 
away  the  grimy  look  that  had  eaten  into  everything. 
The  priest  and  his  attendant  were  dissipated-looking, 
and  seemed  as  if  they  had  been  picked  up  out  of  the 
gutters  of  the  town  that  stretched  away  at  our  feet. 

One  could  not  but  feel  that  religion  had  fallen  upon 
evil  times  when  it  had  come  to  be  administered  by  such 
men  as  these,  and  yet  this  temple  was  but  a  sample 
of  countless  others  that  are  scattered  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  this  vast  empire.  The  enthusiasm 
for  religion  has  vanished.  How  could  it  be  otherwise 
since  opium-smoking,  gambling,  and  dissipated  priests 
are  its  teachers  and  representatives  !  The  nation  is 
waiting  patiently,  pathetically,  for  the  coming  of  Him 
who  is  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER    XII 

PUNISHMENTS 

The  Chinese  is  a  person  full  of  surprises.  He  is  like 
the  kaleidoscope,  for  you  feel  that  whatever  strange  I 
and  unexpected  views  he  may  have  given  of  himself 
you  have  not  yet  got  the  last  and  final  one  that  will 
exhaust  his  character.  In  his  ordinary  and  every-day 
life,  for  example,  he  gives  you  the  impression  of  being 
good-natured,  easy-going,  and  kindly  in  disposition. 

In  many  respects  he  is  the  counterpart  of  the  typical 
Englishman.  He  is  endowed  with  broad  common- 
sense  ;  he  is  breezy  and  jolly,  and  is  absolutely  crammed 
full  of  conceit  about  himself  and  his  country.  He  thinks 
there  is  no  one  to  be  compared  with  a  Chinese,  and 
that  the  Flowery  Kingdom  is  the  only  land  worth  | 
living  in  ! 

He  has  a  keen  sense,  moreover,  of  justice,  and  a  lofty 
ideal  of  human  conduct.  When,  however,,  he  begins 
to  legislate  for  the  criminal,  and  to  carry  out  his  own 
laws,  he  is  no  longer  like  his  prototype  the  Englishman. 
His  good -nature  vanishes  in  a  flash,  and  he  reveals  him- 
self as  a  man  who  can  be  as  cruel  and  bloodthirsty 
as  any  wild  beast  that  ever  tore  its  victim  to  pieces  to 
satisfy  its  savage  appetite. 

In  my  account  of  the  punishments  inflicted  upon  the 
Chinese,  I  shall  not  reckon  the  beatings  with  bamboos, 
that  form  an  essential  of  any  ordinary  trial,  as  among 
their  number.  There  is  no  doubt  that  these  flagella- 
tions are  not  mere  child's  play,  and  that  they  lacerate 
and  tear  away  the  flesh  of  poor  victims,  so  that  some- 
times for  long  months  they  are  confirmed  invalids. 
Still,  these  playful  exhibitions  on  the  part  of  the  man- 
darins cannot  under  the  present  system  be  done  away 
with,    for    they   take    the    place   of   cross-examinations, 

164 


mtnmmmJi* 


CRIMINALS   WEARING   THE   CANQUE. 


To  face  p.  rss. 


PUNISHMENTS  155 

pleadings  of  counsel,  and  learned  disquisitions  by  the 
judge,  none  of  which  are  to  be  found  in  a  Chinese  trial. 
The  Chinese  consider  that  these  bambooings  greatly 
facilitate  matters  and  by  a  rapid  and  easy  method 
secure  that  justice  is  done,  by  stimulating,  if  not  the 
memory,  at  least  the  inventive  faculties  of  the  accused  ; 
at  any  rate,  they  dissipate  the  monotony  that  very 
often  makes  a  case  so  wearisome  in  an  English  court. 
To  deprive  a  judge  of  this  Magna  Charta  of  the  bench 
would  be  to  rob  most  of  the  trials  of  that  comical  ele- 
ment that  does  so  much  to  relieve  the  tedium  of  the 
law  cases  throughout  the  country.  Without  them,  one 
would  look  in  vain  for  the  farcical  developments  that 
often  convulse  the  sides  of  the  spectators,  and  cover 
their  yellow  faces  with  broad  grins  and  laughter. 

A  very  common  punishment  for  theft  or  house- 
breaking is  the  wearing  of  the  canine,  or  wooden  collar. 
This  consists  of  a  rough  board  about  three  feet  in 
width  and  four  in  length,  with  a  liberal  hole  in  the  centre 
to  allow  of  the  free  play  of  the  criminal's  neck.  It  can 
be  divided  in  the  middle  to  allow  it  to  imprison  the 
criminal's  neck,  the  two  parts  then  fit  together  and  are 
locked  by  a  padlock.  A  chain  depends  from  it,  which 
is  attached  either  to  his  ankle,  his  wrist,  or  his  neck. 
With  the  minute  attention  to  detail  of  the  Chinese  the 
gravity  of  his  crime  can  be  measured  somewhat  by  the 
particular  part  of  the  body  to  which  this  chain  is  affixed. 
When  it  is  round  the  neck  the  housebreaking  must  have 
been  of  a  specially  daring  character,  whilst  if  it  is 
fastened  to  his  ankle  it  has  been  of  a  less  bloodcurdling 
type,  and  so  worthy  of  less  severe  treatment. 

The  criminal,  after  he  has  been  condemned,  is  placed 
under  the  charge  of  the  Tipao,  or  headman  of  the 
ward,  who  is  responsible  for  him,  and  who  marches  him 
each  morning  from  his  prison  to  some  thoroughfare  near 
the  place  where  the  offence  was  committed.  The  un- 
fortunate man  is  compelled  to  spend  the  day  in  the  open 
air,  in  order  that  the  outraged  feelings  of  the  community 
may  be  pacified,  and  that  he  may  serve  as  a  severe 
object-lesson  to  intending  transgressors. 

Though  the  cangue  appears  at  first  sight  to  be  a  very 
simple  mode  of  punishment,  a  very  considerable  amount 
of  torture  can  be  caused  by  it.     As  the  board  is  broad, 


156    MEN  AND   MANNERS  OF  MODERN   CHINA 

the  man  can  only  just  manage  to  bend  his  forearm  over 
it.  He  cannot  reach  his  face  with  his  hands.  This  is 
particularly  uncomfortable  at  mealtimes,  for  it  is  only 
by  manoeuvres  worthy  of  a  juggler  or  an  acrobat, 
and  by  tilting  up  his  board,  that  he  can  manage  to 
get  rice  into  his  mouth.  During  the  hot  weather,  when 
flies  of  all  description  abound,  from  the  small,  wiry  kind 
that  have  such  a  fell  purpose  that  nothing  will  divert 
them  from  it,  to  the  huge,  bloated,  drum-beating  kind, 
the  cangue -bearer  has  no  easy  time  of  it.  His  face  is 
absolutely  without  defence.  If  a  fly  settles  on  his  nose, 
he  has  no  resource  but  to  call  some  benevolent  person 
near  by  to  wave  it  off,  for  a  Chinese  bluebottle  knows 
when  it  is  comfortable,  and  will  not  be  frightened  by 
a  mere  shake  of  the  head.  Should  one  of  China's 
millions  make  him  wish  to  scratch  himself,  he  has  again 
to  scan  the  faces  of  the  passers-by  and  select  one  that 
seems  more  kindly  than  the  rest  to  perform  this  simple 
office  for  him. 

All  day  long  in  sunshine  or  in  storm  he  must  remain 
within  the  limited  area  where  his  punishment  has  to  be 
carried  out,  and  when  the  shadows  begin  to  fill  the 
streets  the  Tipao  appears,  to  lead  him  back  to  the 
prison  where  he  is  to  spend  the  night.  The  darkness 
brings  no  alleviation  of  the  man's  sorrows  ;  rather, 
indeed,  may  they  be  said  to  begin  after  he  passes  the 
threshold  of  the  place  where  he  is  to  be  confined. 
Chinese  prisons  are  beau -ideal  places  of  misery  and 
wretchedness.  No  more  loathsome  nor  ghastly  holes, 
where  human  beings  have  to  reside,  can  be  conceived  of. 
Imagine  a  room,  say  not  more  than  ten  feet  square, 
with  narrow  stone  slits  in  the  wall  that  are  to  serve  as 
windows,  and  that  let  in  a  dull  and  subdued  light  that 
leaves  the  place  gloomy -looking  on  the  sunniest  day. 
The  walls  are  black  with  dirt  ;  never  have  they  been 
cleansed  since  the  day  when  the  plasterer  gave  his  final 
touches  to  them.  The  floor  is  an  earthen  one,  once 
beaten  even  but  now  covered  with  miniature  hills  and 
valleys,  by  long  usage.  Into  this  are  crow'ded  ten  or 
a  dozen  prisoners.  There  is  not  an  article  of  furniture 
in  it.  Bundles  of  straw,  provided  by  the  miserable 
inmates,  are  the  only  beds  they  lie  on,  and  these  become 
so  foul  and  densely  populated  that  the  denizens  of  them, 


PUNISHMENTS  157 

if  they  were  only  unanimous,  could  walk  off  with  the 
unfortunate  prisoners. 

The  wretched  man  has  now  to  consider  what  position 
he  shall  take  on  the  floor  to  secure  the  greatest  amount 
of  sleep.  The  board  must  be  humoured  and  coaxed. 
If  it  is  tilted  up  at  a  wrong  angle,  it  may  avenge  itself 
during  the  night  by  collapsing  and  nearly  choking  him. 
He  must  poise  it  so  that  the  sharp,  uneven  edges  may 
prick  as  little  as  possible  into  the  soft  skin  of  his  neck. 
Do  the  best  he  can,  he  must  have  nightmares,  ^d 
restless  dreams,  from  which  he  will  start  into  troubled 
wakefulness,  and  he  will  greet  the  morning  light  with 
thankfulness  because  it  will  rescue  him  from  the  misery 
of  his  prison. 

In  cases  where  the  crimes  demand  a  severer  form  of 
punishment  than  the  cangue  or  imprisonment,  the  law 
decrees     that    criminals    shall    be    transported.       The 
Chinese  have  adopted  a  very  ingenious  and  inexpensive 
method    of    dealing    with    such    offenders.      China   has 
no  penal  settlements,  neither  does  she  build  huge  prisons 
where  the  transgressors  ag'ainst  the  law  are  herded  at 
great    expense    to    the    community.      She   "has    a    very 
effective  way  of  punishing  the  guilty,  and  all  this  with- 
out  prisons   or  gaolers   or   staffs   of   paid  agents,   who 
would    be    a    constant    burden    upon    the    Government. 
A  case  with  which  I  was  acquainted  will  illustrate  my 
meaning.     An  officer  in  a  regiment  stationed  in  Peking 
committed  the  crime  of  murder,  and  was  condemned  to 
be  transported  for  life  to  a  district  fifteen  hundred  miles 
from   where   the   offence  had   been   perpetrated.      One 
mandarin  after  another  passed  him  across  their  juris- 
dictions, until  he  was  finally  handed  over  to  the  chief 
magistrate  of  the  Prefecture  ^  where  he  was  to  spend 
the  rest  of  his  life.      In  a  few  days  he  was  released, 
with  orders  to  report  himself  at  the  police  office  once 
a  month.     He  was  now  at  liberty  to  go  where  he  liked, 
within  a  certain  considerable  area,   and  to   adopt  any 
profession  he  chose  to  earn   his   living.      He  was   left 
absolutely  uncontrolled,  and  he  could  have  escaped  to 
some  other  part  of  the  country,  or  he  could  have  taken 

'  China  is  roughly  divided  into  counties,  prefectures,  and  provinces. 
A-prefecture  contains  a  number  of  counties,  whilst  a  province  embraces 
a  large  number  of  prefectures. 


158    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

steamer  and  gone  abroad,  and  thus  regained  his  liberty, 
but  he  did  not  dare  to  do  so.  It  was  the  thought  of 
his  friends  that  prevented  him.  Visions  of  his  home  and 
of  the  loved  ones  there  rose  before  his  imagination,  and 
stayed  his  feet  from  flying.  Never  had  those  dear  ones 
seemed  to  have  such  a  fascination  for  him  as  now 
when  he  had  lost  them.  His  wife  and  children,  and  the 
scenes  amidst  which  he  had  grown  up,  became  dearer  to 
him  as  he  looked  at  them  through  the  dreary  distance 
that  lay  between.  He  knew  that,  if  he  escaped,  the 
authorities  in  the  north  would  be  at  once  informed, 
and  they  would  proceed  to  inflict  punishment  on  his 
relatives,  on  the  recognised  principle  that  the  misdeeds 
of  one  member  of  a  family  compromise  all  the  rest. 
It  was  my  fortune  to  become  intimately  acquainted 
with  him,  and  as  he  was  teaching  me  Northern  Chinese, 
and  lived  in  the  same  premises  as  myself,  I  had  oppor- 
tunities of  closely  observing  him.  He  was  a  fine, 
gentlemanly -looking  person,  of  the  breezy  type,  and 
with  smiles  that  seemed  ever  to  be  on  the  look-out  to 
overspread  and  wreathe  his  face  in  sunshine.  His 
manners  showed  that  he  had  come  from  a  good  family, 
for  he  had  none  of  those  vulgar  habits  that  too  often 
distinguish  the  common  people,  and  for  a  long  time 
I  never  dreamed  that  I  was  dealing  with  a  murderer. 
Many  months  passed  by  and  his  conduct  was  every- 
thing that  could  be  desired,  but  gradually  signs  of 
the  special  weakness  that  had  caused  the  tragedy  in 
his  life  appeared.  He  would  occasionally  get  drunk, 
and  then  the  mad  passion  that  had  been  lying  dormant 
within  him  like  a  sleeping  panther  would  burst  out,  and 
for  the  time  being  he  became  a  raving  demoniac. 
Chairs  would  be  broken,  crockery  smashed,  and  furious 
onslaughts  made  on  everything  inanimate  that  he  could 
lay  his  hands  on.  He  was  careful,  in  the  midst  of 
all  his  frenzy,  to  abstain  from  touching  any  person. 
That  was  the  one  sane  point  about  him.  People  stand- 
ing by  looked  on  with  amazement  at  this  mad  revelry, 
and  kept  muttering  their  astonishment  at  such  wanton 
destruction  of  property.  After  a  time  the  madness 
would  slowly  die  away  and  he  would  lie  down  exhausted 
amid  the  ruins  he  had  created  and  fall  asleep.  When  he 
woke  up  he  did  so   with  the  smile  of  an  infant  just 


PUNISHMENTS  159 

awaking  from  its  slumbers,  and  with  a  look  of  wonder 
in  his  eyes  as  he  surveyed  the  scene  around.  He  uttered 
no  word  of  surprise,  but  began  quietly  to  put  his  room 
in  order  with  the  wrecks  of  the  things  that  lay  strewn 
about . 

The  Chinese  method  of  transportation  is  about  as 
cheap  and  effective  a  system  as  the  wit  of  man  could 
have  devised.  It  costs  the  Government  nothing  and 
it  entails  no  permanent  expense  to  it,  for  the  men  who 
are  doomed  to  this  punishment  have  to  support  them- 
selves. It  might  seem  that  the  freedom  given  to  the 
criminal,  when  he  has  reached  the  place  where  he  has 
to  expiate  his  crime,  would  rob  it  of  all  its  terrors, 
but  this  is  not  so.  The  sting  of  transportation,  and  the 
one  thing  that  fills  it  with  horror  to  the  ordinary 
Chinese,  is  the  fact  that  it  means  exile  from  his  home. 
The  love  of  home  is  deeply  inbred  in  the  heart  of  every 
Chinese.  It  is  deep  ;  it  is  as  profound  as  his  own 
nature.  The  finest  affections  of  this  mysterious  people 
centre  round  their  homes.  Love  of  country  pales  and 
vanishes  before  this,  for  no  matter  how  poor  or  wretched 
their  homes  may  be,  to  be  banished  from  them  is  to 
take  away  the  very  springs  of  life  and  to  rob  it  of 
all  its  sunshine. 

There  are  two  factors  in  the  punishment  that  make 
it  a  most  serious  and  yet  an  absolutely  safe  one.  These 
are  this  innate  love  for  home,  and  the  despotic  power 
of  the  Government  to  seize  any  member  of  the  criminal's 
family  and  hold  them  responsible  should  he  escape. 
Very  few  men  will  run  when  they  know  that  their  father 
or  mother.  Or  uncles  and  aunts,  or  first  cousins  or 
second  cousins  may  be  pounced  upon  and  held  in 
durance  vile  until  either  they  are  released,  are  dead, 
or  have  surrendered  themselves.  Love  for  the  dear 
ones  at  home  keeps  the  man  perpetually  in  his  pre- 
scribed district,  and  though  his  heart  may  be  breaking 
and  his  limbs  trembling  with  excitement  to  hurry  home- 
ward, he  feels  himself  bound  to  his  place  of  exile  by 
loyalty  and  devotion  to  those  who  would  have  to  suffer 
for  him. 

There  are  certain  offences  that  appear  to  us  com- 
paratively trivial,  and  yet  the  Chinese  have  adjudged 
them   a  most   severe   and   cruel   punishment.      One   of 


160    MEN   AND  MANNERS   OF  MODERN   CHINA 

these  latter  is  called  "  carrying  the  crate."  One  day 
I  was  informed  that  a  man  who  had  been  found  guilty 
of  rifling  a  grave  was  suffering  this  particular  penalty 
close  by  the  very  spot  where  he  had  committed  his 
offence.  I  at  once  hurried  along  one  of  the  main  roads 
towards  the  place  where  the  man  was  being  punished, 
with  a  kind  of  shivery  feeling  that  I  should  see  some- 
thing very  horrible,  and  I  was  not  disappointed.  On 
a  little  plain  at  the  foot  of  a  low  hill  covered  with  graves, 
and  within  a  few  feet  of  a  crowded  thoroughfare,  the 
terrible  spectacle  I  had  come  to  see  was  being  exhibited 
to  an  immense  crowd.  The  criminal  was  standing  on 
his  tiptoes  on  a  number  of  bricks  piled  up  inside  a 
crate  such  as  is  used  by  us  for  carrying  sheep.  His 
hands  were  firmly  tied  behind  his  back,  whilst  his  head 
protruded  through  the  crate,  his  shoulders  being  well 
up  against  the  cross-bars.  The  day  was  scorching 
hot,  and  the  sun,  like  a  molten  furnace,  was  pouring 
down  scorching  rays  from  a  cloudless  sky  upon  the 
bare  shaven  heads  of  the  crowd  that  had  gathered  to 
gaze  in  almost  silent  wonder  at  the  gruesome  sight. 

The  prisoner  was  in  a  most  pitiable  condition.  A 
cloud  of  flies  hovered  about  his  head,  like  vultures  over 
their  prey,  and  a  cluster  of  them  had  settled  on  his 
upper  lip  and  actually  eaten  away  a  bit  of  the  flesh. 
What  with  the  sun  glaring  down  upon  his  uncovered 
head  and  the  agony  caused  by  the  flies  the  sufferings 
of  the  man  must  have  been  most  acute.  One  could 
never  have  discovered  that,  however,  from  his  face. 
It  was  as  calm  and  unmoved  as  though  no  terrible 
emotion  was  tearing  his  heart  to  pieces.  His  eyes 
were  wide  open,  but  they  looked  straight  before  him 
to  the  distant  moimtains  on  which  the  afternoon 
shadows  were  playing,  and  he  seemed  plunged  in  some 
profound  thought  that  absorbed  all  his  attention.  It 
was  a  pitiful  sight  to  watch  how  the  man  clung  to  life. 
He  knew  that  his  fate  was  certain  and  that  he  would 
never  leave  the  crate  alive.  The  flies  buzzed  and 
hummed  and  turned  his  flesh  black  as  with  poisoned 
fangs  they  ate  into  it.  He  had  but  to  let  his  feet  drop 
or  kick  away  one  of  the  bricks  and  strangulation  would 
have  finished  his  tortures  in  a  few  seconds.  But  no, 
sacred  life  is  the  dearest  thing  in  all  the  world,  and 


PUNISHMENTS  161 

he  held  on  to  it  as  though  he  had  an  endless  lease 
of  it. 

Another  terrible  form  of  punishment,  less  frequent 
now  than  it  used  to  be,  is  crucifixion.  That  it  is  not 
a  modern  one  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  there  is 
a  distinct  word  for  it  in  the  language,  and  not  a  com- 
pound one  that  would  suggest  that  it  was  of  foreign 
origin.  I  once  had  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  an 
execution  of  this  kind.  The  scene  was  one  that  im- 
pressed me  profoundly,  mainly  because  of  the  sacred 
associations  connected  with  a  death  on  the  cross.  The 
man  was  crucified  under  a  large  banyan -tree  that  grew 
on  the  edge  of  a  road,  where  a  constant  stream  of 
people  passed  and  repassed  the  livelong  day.  Hundreds 
of  people,  anxious  to  see  how  a  man  would  die  in  such 
circumstances,  flocked  to  the  place  where  he  was  to 
suffer. 

As  I  stood  in  front  of  the  man  my  ideas  about  a. 
crucifixion,  which  had  been  formed  by  popular  pictures 
on  the  subject,  received  a  rude  shock.  It  was  so 
different  from  the  conceptions  that  we  usually  have 
about  it.  The  cross  consisted  of  a  heavy  upright  beam, 
fixed  in  a  transverse  one,  resting  on  the  ground. 
From  this  latter  projected,  in  a  slightly  opposite 
direction,  two  short  planks  on  which  the  man  stood 
and  to  which  his  feet  were  nailed.  Above  was 
a  cross  beam,  about  the  height  of  the  man's 
shoulders,  and  at  the  extremities  of  this  the  palms  of 
his  hands  were  pierced  by  stout  nails.  In  order  to 
sustain  the  body  and  prevent  it  from  sinking  undei^ 
the  pain  and  agony  it  was  enduring,  the  arms  wefe 
securely  roped  to  the  cross  beam,  whilst  the  queue 
was  wound  round  the  top  of  the  upright  post  so  as  to 
keep  his  head  from  drooping.  Without  these  pre- 
cautions the  weight  of  the  sinking  body  would  have 
torn  his  hands  from  the  nails,  and  he  would  have  fallen 
forward  on  the  ground.  On  his  breast,  written  in  a 
bold  hand,  was  the  statement  that  the  criminal  was  a, 
robber  of  so  determined  and  ferocious  a  character  that 
there  was  no  method  of  punishment  that  could  be  found 
severe  enough  to  meet  his  case.  The  authorities,  there- 
fore, had  selected  crucifixion  as  the  most  suitable  by 
which  to  make  him'  expiate  his  crime.       ;     , 

11 


162    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OP  MODERN  CHINA 

Standing  close  up  to  him  and  looking  him  straight  in 
the  face,  I  saw  nothing  about  him  to  indicate  that  he  was 
such  a  desperate  character  as  the  official  description 
made  him  out  to  be.  He  was  dressed  in  the  ordinary 
loose  blue  calico  clothes,  such  as  the  poorest  of  the 
working  men  wear.  He  seemed  very  much  like  the 
coolies  that  one  sees  everywhere,  and  if  I  had  met 
him  in  the  street  I  should  not  have  thought  there  was 
anything  particular  about  him  to  distinguish  him  from 
any  one  else.  I  was  much  struck  by  the  stoical  way  in 
which  the  man  was  bearing  his  punishment.  The 
muscles  of  his  face  did  indeed  show  that  he  was  in  an 
agony  of  pain,  but  he  was  determined  to  die  in  silence 
and  that  no  craven  look  or  word  should  betray  how 
deeply  he  was  suffering.  Two  soldiers  stood  by  the 
cross  with  long  spears  in  their  hands.  There  was  no 
need  of  any  larger  force,  for  the  crowds  that  thronged 
around  showed  plainly  that  they  thought  that  the 
criminal  was  only  getting  his  due.  I  scanned  the  faces 
of  the  people  near  by  to  see  if  there  was  any  one 
who  appeared  moved  by  the  spectacle  before  us,  but  I 
could  not  discover  one.  It  seemed,  indeed,  as  though 
the  masses  had  gathered  that  day  for  some  festal 
purpose.  They  were  in  their  happiest  mood.  Faces 
beamed  with  smiles,  and  jokes  were  cracked,  and  con- 
gratulations passed  from  one  to  the  other  that  the  man 
had  been  caught. 

Another  punishment,  even  more  severe  than  the 
above,  is  called  **  standing  in  the  tub."  This  consists 
of  a  huge  vatlike  tub,  with  a  hole  in  the  lid,  through 
which  the  culprit's  head  is  protruded.  At  the  bottom 
of  the  vat  is  a  thick  layer  of  unslacked  lime  and  seven 
bricks  piled  up  on  each  other.  As  the  man's  hands  are 
tied  behind  his  back  he  can  do  absolutely  nothing  to 
ease  himself  in  any  way.  The  agony  of  standing  in 
one  position  all  day  long  with  unsympathetic  onlookers 
gazing  at  him  must  be  very  great,  and  to  have  it  con- 
tinued through  the  lonely  night,  with  the  silent  stars  as 
his  only  companions,  must  render  it  absolutely  intoler- 
able. But  this  is  only  the  beginning  of  his  tortures. 
The  next  day  one  of  the  bricks  is  removed  from  under 
his  feet,  thus  bringing  hini  one  day  nearer  his  doom. 
A  very  small  quantity  of  water  is  at  the  same  time 


PUNISHMENTS  163 

poured   into   the   lime,   which   begins   to   work   and  to 

send  up  its  noxious  fumes  to  his  face.  This  is  repeated 
each  day  till  the  last  tile  has  been  taken  away  and 
his  feet  are  now  amongst  the  quicklime  that  bums 
the  flesh  more  savagely  and  with  a  fiercer  pain  than 
ordinary  fire  would  do.  A  very  brief  period  after  the 
last  brick  has  been  removed  the  tragedy  is  at  an  end. 
What  with  strangulation  by  the  neck  and  the  terrible 
burning  of  the  lower  parts  of  his  body  the  man  dies 
in  the  most  excruciating  agonies. 

The  common  punishment  of  decapitation,  though 
lasting  but  for  a  minute  or  two,  is  considered  more 
severe  than  any  of  those  above  described,  simply  because 
the  person  loses  his  head.  This,  to  the  Chinese,  is 
the  greatest  disaster  that  could  ever  possibly  happen 
to  him.  Better  a  thousand  deaths,  each  more  cruel 
than  the  other,  if  he  can  only  retain  a  perfect  body 
to  the  end.  This  is  a  matter  of  superstition.  He 
believes  that  after  death  he  goes  into  the  "  Land  of 
Shadows,'*  where  life  is  continued  very  much  as  it  is 
in  this  world.  To  be  deprived  of  his  head  is  to  make 
him  a  headless  ghost  and  doom  him  to  perpetual  sorrow. 
His  hands  might  grasp  the  chopsticks,  but  there  would 
be  no  mouth  to  receive  the  food.  He  might  wish  to 
marry,  but  what  woman  would  ever  dream  of  taking 
a  man  without  a  head  !  She  might  have  been  willing  to 
accept  him,  though  he  had  been  the  ugliest  specimen 
of  mankind  that  ever  lived  ;  but  a  man  without  a  head 
is  so  frightful  an  object  that  there  is  no  woman  but 
would  shrink  from  him  with  horror.  He  would  never 
be  able  to  find  his  way  anywhere,  and  the  shades  in 
that  mysterious  land  would  start  with  terror  from  him 
as  he  groped  his  way  through  the  gloom.  Give  any 
criminal  a  choice  between  decapitation  and  the  most 
cruel  death  and  he  would  instantly  choose  the  latter, 
no  matter  what  tortures  it  might  involve. 

To  my  mind  one  of  the  severest  forms  of  punish- 
ment is  what  is  called  the  "  lingering  process,"  or 
slicing.  It  surpasses  in  fiendish  cruelty  the  tortures 
that  the  Red  Indians  used  to  inflict  upon  their  captives. 
It  is  intended,  not  simply  that  the  criminal  should  suffer 
but  that  the  utmost  pain  and  agony  that  the  human 
frame  is  capable   of  enduring  shall   be   wrung  out  of 


164    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

him.  Care  is  taken  lest  he  die  too  soon,  and  so  the 
vital  parts  are  left  untouched.  Bits  of  flesh  are  sliced 
off  here  and  there  ;  a  leg  is  cut  off  by  the  knee 
joint,  then  an  arm  is  amputated  at  the  elbow.  After 
this  an  eye  is  gouged  out,  and  so,  for  three  days,  the 
awful  process  of  dismemberment  goes  on,  till  the  man 
finally  escapes  his  tortures  by  sheer  exhaustion  and  loss 
of  blood. 

The  Chinese  judge,  having  nothing  to  control  his 
decisions  excepting  his  own  free  will,  frequently  settles 
cases  after  a  very  free  and  easy  method.  He  some- 
times shows  great  common -sense  and  ingenuity  in  the 
ruses  adopted  to  elicit  the  truth  in  some  disputed  case. 
An  amusing  instance  occurred  some  time  ago,  when 
the  mandarin  showed  himself  to  be  a  man  of  humour 
and  one  well  acquainted  with  the  ins  and  outs  of  the 
Chinese  mind.  A  Chinese  went  abroad  and  stayed  away 
for  fifteen  years,  where  he  accumulated  quite  a  com- 
fortable little  sum,  with  which  he  determined  to  return 
home  and  spend  the  rest  of  his  days  in  comfort.  Night 
had  fallen  when  he  reached  the  entrance  of  the  village 
where  his  home  was.  During  all  the  years  he  had 
been  away  no  letter  had  passed  between  him  and  his 
wife,  and  no  tidings  had  ever  reached  him  about  her 
or  his  home.  Was  she  alive?  and,  if  so,  would  she 
receive  him  kindly  after  the  neglect  of  years?  His 
mind  was  so  agitated  about  the  reception  he  was  likely 
to  receive  that  he  took  the  bar  of  gold  into  which  he 
had  converted  his  savings,  and  hid  it  in  the  ashes  of 
the  incense  dish  in  front  of  the  village  idol  in  the 
public  temple,  and  then  with  beating  heart  he  made 
his  way  to  his  home.  He  found  his  wife  alive,  and  to 
his  delight  she  received  him  without  any  reproaches. 
She  was  too  happy  to  have  him  back  again  to  dream  of 
scolding  him.  As  they  sat  talking  he  told  her  how  much 
money  he  had  made  and  how  it  was  then  in  the  incense 
dish  in  front  of  the  Goddess  of  Mercy  in  the  village 
temple.  He  tried  to  tell  her  this  in  a  low  voice,  but 
he  did  not  succeed.  A  Chinese  does  not  seem  to  know 
how  to  whisper.  He  can  shout  and  bawl  and  howl, 
but  the  art  of  speaking  quietly  into  another's  ear  is 
a  lost  one  in  China.  The  expression  "in  a  pig's 
whisper  "  would  be  utterly  misunderstood  in  this  land. 


PUNISHMENTS  165 

At  a  crack  in  the  wall  that  separated  his  house  from 
his  neighbour's  was  an  ear  that  drank  in  every  word 
that  was  uttered  by  husband  and  wife.  It  seemed  glued 
to  it.  It  was  fascinated,  indeed,  by  the  strange  stories 
that  poured  into  it,  and  when  the  tale  of  the  gold  bar 
was  related  it  thrilled  with  joy,  for  it  seemed  as  though 
some  fairy  had  come  to  reveal  a  hidden  fortune.  Next 
morning,  before  the  dawn  of  day,  the  husband  wound 
his  way  silently  to  the  temple  for  his  gold  bar,  but 
to  his  horror  he  found  it  was  gone.  He  at  once  accused 
his  neighbour  of  the  theft,  but  the  latter  declared  that 
he  had  not  even  heard  of  his  return,  and,  therefore, 
he  could  not  possibly  have  known  anything  about  his 
gold.  Finding  it  useless  to  discuss  the  matter,  he 
hurried  to  the  nearest  mandarin  and  laid  his  complaint 
before  him.  This  official  happened  to  be  a  man  of 
humour  as  well  as  a  very  sagacious  one.  He  summoned 
the  accused  before  him  and  ordered  him  to  restore  the 
gold.  This  the  man  declared  he  could  not  do  for  the 
simple  reason  that  he  had  never  taken  it.  The 
mandarin,  who  was  convinced  of  his  guilt,  now  deter- 
mined to  adopt  a  ruse  which  he  believed  would  be 
successful.  He  ordered  his  policeman  to  go  to  the 
village  temple  and  bring  the  idol  in  whose  incense  dish 
the  gold  had  been  concealed  into  his  presence.  When 
it  arrived  he  asked  the  goddess  who  had  stolen  the  gold. 
Profound  silence  was  the  only  reply.  "Don't  you  con- 
sider it  your  duty  to  tell  me  who  the  thief  is,  seeing  that 
the  money  was  practically  entrusted  to  your  care?  " 
asked  the  mandarin.  Still  no  reply.  Upon  this  the 
judge  became  indignant  and  accused  the  idol  of  want 
of  respect  to  him,  and  also  of  neglect  in  allowing  a 
theft  to  take  place  in  a  temple  that  was  her  residence. 
The  mandarin  now  adjourned  the  case  for  a  day  and 
in  an  angry  tone  threatened  the  goddess  that  if  she 
did  not  confess  then  he  would  have  her  publicly  beaten 
with  rods  by  his  policemen. 

That  same  evening  the  mandarin  summoned  the 
accused  into  his  private  room,  and  with  a  look  of 
mystery  on  his  face  and  in  a  voice  trembling  with 
emotion  he  said  :  *'  The  goddess  has  confessed  that 
it  was  you  who  stole  the  gold.  She  is  furious  with  you, 
for   you   have   made    her    '  lose    face  '    to-day   when    I 


166    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OP  MODERN  CHINA 

threatened  before  my  whole  court  to  have  her  beaten, 
and  she  vows  vengeance  against  you  and  your  whole 
family.  She  says  she  will  make  your  fields  barren  and 
send  sickness  into  your  home.  Your  sons  will  die, 
and  when  you  leave  the  world  there  will  be  no  one  to 
worship  at  your  tomb,  and  you  will  wander  a  hungry 
and  wretched  spirit  in  the  land  of  shades.  The  only 
way  in  which  you  can  avert  the  wrath  of  the  goddess 
is  by  an  instant  confession.  If  you  do  this,  I  will  use 
all  my  influence  to  get  her  to  forgive  you."  The  man 
was  so  terrified  at  the  prospect  of  such  awful  calamities 
awaiting  him  that,  trembling  and  full  of  awe,  he  made 
a  clean  breast  of  it  and  restored  the  bar  of  gold  to 
the  rightful  owner  ;  and,  though  he  was  punished  by 
the  mandarin  for  his  wrong,  he  considered  he  had  got 
off  lightly,  since  he  had  not  to  suffer  the  vengeance  of 
the  goddess. 

In  addition  to  the  punishments  described  above 
there  are  a  great  many  minor  forms  that  are  pre- 
scribed at  the  option  of  the  mandarin,  who  has  a  large 
liberty  allowed  him  by  the  State  in  his  control  of  his 
own  particular  district  and  in  his  punishment  of  the 
unruly  and  disorderly.  It  is  a  remarkable  feature  of  the 
Chinese  law  that  it  usually  does  not  take  cognisance 
of  murder.  Crimes  of  this  kind  are  rarely  brought 
before  the  notice  of  the  authorities,  as  the  rule  is  to 
settle  them  by  a  money  compensation  to  the  family  of 
the  murdered.  This  is  so  thoroughly  understood  that, 
even  when  the  relatives  of  the  murdered  man  appeal 
to  the  mandarin  for  redress,  it  is  simply  that  he  may 
help  them  to  recover  damages  for  the  loss  of  their 
friend.  There  is  no  thought  of  the  manslayer  having 
to  pay  the  penalty  with  his  own  life. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

LYNCH    UAW. 

Considering  the  absolute  and  despotic  character  of  the 
Chinese  Government,  it  is  astonishing  how  much  free- 
dom the  people  have  in  matters  that  with  us  are  settled 
exclusively  by  the  police  authorities.  This  is  all  the 
more  extraordinary  seeing  that  the  Chinese  is  intensely 
conservative,  almost  as  much  so,  indeed,  as  the  English- 
man, for,  without  any  compulsion  or  suggestion  from 
any  one,  he  is  prepared  to  hold  on  like  grim  death  to 
what  has  been  handed  down  to  him  by  his  fathers. 
To-day  is  commonplace  and  devoid  of  jauthority.  Yester- 
day has  already  begun  to  put  on  airs,  but  two  thousand 
years  ago  is  invested  with  every  power,  human  and 
divine,  and  what  it  says  must  be  accepted  without 
hesitation  or  dispute. 

It  is  difficult,  therefore,  to  account  for  the  distinctly 
democratic  tendencies  that  one  finds  in  society  at  the 
present  time  ;  they  are  not  the  birth  of  to-day.  They  are 
as  old  as  the  empire,  and,  therefore,  one  is  led  to  assume 
that  the  men  of  those  far-off  times,  who  look  down  with 
wrinkled  faces  and  hoary  heads  upon  the  men  of  to-day, 
whilst  very  decided  that  the  sacred  character  of  the  past 
should  be  maintained,  had  a  very  deep  strain  of  de- 
mocracy in  their  hearts  which  led  to  profound  sympathy 
with  the  masses.  iWe  know  that  the  sages  held  very 
pronounced  views  as  to  the  limitations  of  the  kingly 
power,  and  we  cannot  avoid  thinking  that,  had  only 
some  Chinese  Simon  de  Montfort  arisen  in  the  early 
history  of  the  nation,  China,  instead  of  being  ruled  by 
a  despotic  Government,  would  long  ere  this  have  had 
a  Parliament  of  its  own. 

Lynch  law  in  China  is  no  modem  institution,  as  it  is 
with  us.     It  has  not  to  be  carried  out  during  mid- 

167 


168    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

night  hours,  by  men  with  veiled  and  muffled  faces,  riding 
mysteriously  and  at  racing  speed  to  some  lonely  and 
secluded  spot,  and  then  separating  as  rapidly  when  the 
tragedy  is  over  in  order  that  their  identity  may  remain 
a  secret.  Here  it  is  an  open  and  recognised  power,  and 
has  not  to  do  simply  with  horse-stealing,  as  was  its 
main  idea  when  it  started  in  America. 

Roughly  speaking,  it  takes  cognizance  of  all  wrong- 
doing except  offences  against  the  State.  These  the 
Government  demands  shall  be  regulated  by  itself.  In 
a  multitude  of  cases,  however,  where  the  people  would 
find  it  too  expensive  or  tedious  to  go  through  the  law- 
courts,  lynch  law,  without  any  restriction  from  the 
officials,  is  prepared  to  step  in,  and  with  rough-and- 
ready  justice  to  settle  them. 

One  of  the  commonest  offences  it  has  to  deal  with 
is  theft.  This  seems  to  arouse  the  very  worst  passions 
that  lie  smouldering  in  the  heart  of  a  Chinese.  In  a 
densely  populated  country  like  China,  where  large 
sections  live  on  the  very  borderland  of  starvation, 
property  is  apt  to  be  considered  more  sacred  even  than 
life,  and  the  most  terrible  vengeance  is  often  wreaked 
for  theft  of  something  that  is  comparatively  of  little 
value. 

^When  a  thief  is  caught  in  the  very  act,  there  is  a. 
fierce  rush  of  the  people  near  by  and  he  is  kicked  and 
cuffed  in  the  most  unmerciful  manner.  A  Chinese, 
however,  will  bear  a  vast  amount  of  knocking  about, 
without  apparently  any  very  serious  injury  being  the 
result.  He  is  like  a  sack  of  flour.  You  kick  it  and 
punch  it  and  make  deep  dents  in  its  sides  till  it  doubles 
up  like  a  drunken  man  and  seems  utterly  demoralised. 
A  shake-up,  however,  and  it  instantly  assumes  a 
normally  healthy  appearance.  A  thief,  after  a  severe 
beating,  goes  howling  and  shrieking  with  agony,  calling 
upon  his  father  and  mother  to  come  at  once  to  the 
rescue  of  their  injured  son  ;  but  when  he  gets  round, 
the  corner,  or  at  a  convenient  distance  from  the  mob, 
his  cries  slowly  die  away,  and  his  face  resumes  its 
wonted  look  of  childlike  innocence  and  simplicity. 

The  punishment  meted  out  to  a  thief  varies  with  the 
mood  of  the  people  that  make  the  capture.  One  day 
I  was  passing  by  a  house  in  front  of  which  was  a  crowd 


LYNCH  LAW  169 

that  seemed  highly  pleased  with  some  entertainment  that 
was  giving  them  a  great  deal  of  amusement.  It  might 
have  been  a  Punch  and  Judy  show  they  were  looking 
at,  so  jolly  did  they  all  appear.  Smiles  and  laughter 
gave  them  quite  a  festive  appearance.  When  I  came 
close  enough  to  see  what  was  the  reason  of  the  fun, 
I  found  that  it  was  caused  by  the  sight  of  a  thief  who 
was  suffering  the  penalty  that  King  Mob  was  inflicting 
upon  him  for  a  theft  in  which  he  had  been  caught  red- 
handed.  The  moment  I  caught  sight  of  the  poor  wretch 
the  laughter  that  had  come  infectiously  upon  me  from 
the  crowd  vanished  both  from  my  face  and  from  my 
heart,  and  a  wave  of  pity  swept  over  me.  The  man's 
hands  had  been  tied  very  tightly  behind  his  back  with 
cords  that  must  have  cut  into  the  flesh,  and  by  these  he 
had  been  hoisted  up  several  feet  from  the  ground  and 
suspended  from  the  branch  of  a  tree. 

The  pain  must  have  been  most  acute,  for  the  arms 
were  stretched  out  at  right  angles  to  his  back,  and  the 
whole  weight  of  his  body  had  to  be  borne  by  his 
shoulder-joints.  That  he  was  a  thief  I  did  not  for  a 
moment  doubt.  He  had  the  air  of  a  vagabond  about 
him.  He  was  shabbily  dressed  in  the  monotonous  blue 
cotton  coat  and  trousers  in  which  the  masses  like  to 
array  themselves.  He  evidently  belonged  to  the  criminal 
classes,  for  there  was  a  nameless  something  that  no 
language  could  define  that  hovered  over  his  opium -hued 
visage  and  declared  him  to  be  a  scamp.  He  was  groan- 
ing with  pain  and  beseeching  the  crowd  by  appeals  to 
Heaven  and  earth  to  let  him  down  ere  his  joints  cracked 
and  his  arms  were  riven  from  his  shoulders. 

No  sooner  did  he  catch  sight  of  me,  than  he  at  once 
turned  all  his  arts  of  persuasion  upon  me,  and  begged 
me  to  intercede  with  the  crowd  to  let  him  loose.  My 
heart  was  too  much  in  sympathy  with  him  not  to  respond 
at  once  to  his  appeal,  but  I  found  it  difficult  to  touch  the 
feelings  of  those  around  me.  **  If  we  let  him  go,"  they 
said,  **  he  will  be  back  again  in  a  few  days  and  we  shall 
lose  more  things.  Better  let  him  suffer  now  and  then 
he  will  be  afraid  to  venture  back  again."  I  eventually 
succeeded  in  getting  the  man  set  free,  but  it  was  a 
question  with  me  afterwards  whether  I  had  really  done 
right.     There  was  one  thought  I  had  to  face,  viz.,  that 


170    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

I  had  been  the  means  of  releasing  an  habitual  thief, 
without  his  having  suffered  an  adequate  punishment  for 
the  wrong  he  had  done.  The  man  had  been  benefited 
but  society  had  been  mulcted  of  its  rights.  Still,  I  felt 
that  I  could  not  endure  to  see  the  agony  of  the  poor 
fellow. 

As  has  already  been  stated,  the  punishment  for  theft 
depends  largely  upon  the  mood  and  power  of  those 
who  exercise  lynch  rule,  and  not  at  all  upon  the  actual 
value  of  the  things  stolen.  Where  the  offence,  for 
example,  has  been  committed  against  a  wealthy  man 
with  a  powerful  clan  at  his  back,  the  reprisal  is  often 
of  the  most  savage  character,  and  is  altogether  out  of 
proportion  to  the  injury  done  to  his  property. 

An  illustration  from  an  actual  fact  in  life  will  explain 
exactly  what  I  mean.  One  day  my  duties  led  me  to  a 
hospital,  where  a  large  number  of  patients  were  collected 
from  all  parts  of  the  country  to  consult  the  English 
doctor  who  was  in  charge  of  it.  There  were  country 
biunpkins  straight  from  their  farms,  in  quiet  villages 
in  the  interior,  open-mouthed  at  the  wonders  of  the 
city,  and  too  shy  almost  to  dare  to  speak.  There  were 
sailors  from  a  neighbouring  port,  with  a  breezy  air 
about  them,  as  though  tliey  were  In  a  north-east  gale. 
There  were  coolies  and  shopkeepers  and  opium -smokers, 
and  men  with  hideous  ulcers  on  their  legs,  all  drawn 
by  a  common  purpose  and  sitting  side  by  side  on  the 
benches,  waiting  the  arrival  of  the  doctor. 

My  attention,  by  and  by,  was  drawn  to  a  man  seated 
on  the  ground,  with  a  young  lad  standing  by  his  side 
with  the  saddest -looking  face  it  was  possible  for  a  boy 
to  have.  I  at  once  went  to  him  to  see  what  was  the 
matter.  There  seemed  to  be  something  wrong  with  the 
man's  eyes,  for  they  had  a  strange  and  inflamed  look 
about  them  that  at  first  puzzled  me.  As  I  looked  more 
closely  into  them,  I  discovered  to  my  horror  that  they 
had  been  torn  out  of  his  head. 

**  Who  is  this  man?  *'  I  asked  the  boy. 

"He  is  my  father,*'  he  replied. 

**  How  is  it  that  he  has  lost  his  eyes?  "  I  inquired. 

**  They  were  gouged  out  a  few  days  ago  by  a  rich 
neighbour,"  he  answered.  And  he  went  on  to  explain 
that  his  father's  buffalo,  whilst  grazing  along  a  bank. 


LYNCH  LAW  171 

had  stretched  out  its  huge  rhinoceros -like  mouth  and 
snatched  a  few  mouthfuls  from  the  rice  that  was  grow- 
ing in  the  field  close  by.  The  news  was  instantly  carried 
to  the  owner  of  the  rice,  who  determined  upon  prompt 
and  vigorous  action. 

And  here  let  me  digress  for  a  moment  to  dwell  upon 
a  singular  fact  in  Chinese  life  that  no  foreigner  has 
ever  been  able  to  explain,  and  that  is  the  rapidity 
with  which  news  is  carried  about  in  this  vast  empire. 
One  does  not  seem  to  be  able  to  do  anything  that  shall 
not  be  known  quickly  over  a  large  area.  You  take  a 
walk  in  a  secluded  place,  and  you  fancy  that  you  are 
quite  alone,  when  half  a  dozen  forms  will  suddenly 
appear  and  will  silently,  but  persistently  follow  you. 
You  make  a  dash  for  a  hillside,  and  you  climb  up  by 
devious  and  unbeaten  paths  to  a  spot  that  you  know 
to  be  far  removed  from  any  human  habitation,  and  after 
a  time  you  sit  down,  perfectly  satisfied  that  you  are 
absolutely  out  of  the  reach  of  the  omnipresent  vision 
of  the  Chinese. 

As  you  are  enjoying  the  delicious  feeling  that  there 
is  no  eye  scanning  your  every  action,  you  happen  to 
look  round,  and  to  your  horror  you  see  several  yellow 
faces  peering  over  some  bushes  at  you,  as  solemn- 
looking  and  as  sphinx-like  as  though  they  had  grown 
there  and  had  their  permanent  abode  in  that  spot. 
By  and  by  they  will  return  to  their  village,  and  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  in  it  will,  in  a  wonderfully 
brief  space,  know  everything  you  have  done  during 
your  Walk. 

But  the  most  mysterious  thing  is  how  news  is  carried 
from  vast  distances  without  any  apparent  means  of 
transit,  with  nearly  absolute  correctness.  A  thing 
happens,  say,  a  thousand  miles  away.  A  telegram 
arrives  giving  the  merest  outline  of  it.  You  mention 
this  to  a  Chinese  as  a  startling  bit  of  news,  and  he 
astonishes  you  by  saying  that  he  has  already  heard  it. 
You  ask  him  how,  and  he  says,  **  Oh  I  a  friend  of  mine 
told  me."  How  the  friend  got  to  hear  you  cannot  find 
out.  It  is  quite  true  he  may  have  received  a  telegram 
as  well  as  you,  but  this  is  extremely  improbable,  as 
telegrams  are  very  expensive  in  China,  and  only  men 
in  official  positions,  or  in  a  large  way  of  business,  can 
-indulge  in  the  luxury  of  them. 


172    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

But  the  mystery  has  by  no  means  ended.  Within  a 
few  days  the  news  will  have  penetrated  far  beyond 
where  the  original  telegram  was  received.  People 
living  in  crowded  cities,  many  miles  away,  will  have 
heard  of  it.  Farmers  who  have  collected  in  market 
towns  and  fairs  off  the  great  trunk  roads  will  discuss 
it.  The  dwellers  in  lonely  hamlets  that  lie  in  the 
shadow  of  the  hills  will  tell  each  other  the  startling 
story,  and  the  air  will  be  full  of  the  echoes  of  voices 
that  have  been  giving  their  version  of  the  news  that 
has  caused  such  excitement. 

Now  how  has  this  been  accomplished?  The  Chinese 
have  few,  if  any,  newspapers  to  give  the  daily  news, 
and  no  telegraph  lines  outside  of  beaten  tracks,  with 
which  to  flash  information  through  the  country,  and  yet 
high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  have  got  it  with  a  certainty 
and  a  rapidity  as  though  a  thousand  telegraph  offices 
had  been  busy  night  and  day  in  spreading  the  news  as 
fast  as  electricity  could  carry  it.  How  all  this  is  done 
is  a  mystery  for  which,  as  far  as  I  know,  there  is 
absolutely  no  means  of  getting  a  solution. 

To  return  to  the  blind  farmer's  story  of  wrong.  An 
unseen  eye,  invisible  to  the  farmer,  had  caught  sight 
of  the  huge  mouth  of  the  buffalo  as  it  surreptitiously 
cropped  the  succulent  grain,  and  news  of  the  theft  was 
at  once  carried  to  the  rich  man.  Mad  with  anger,  he 
summoned  a  number  of  his  clan,  and  without  delay 
King  Lynch,  with  passion  in  his  heart  that  would  easily 
ripen  into  murder,  was  on  his  way  to  avenge  the  wrong 
that  had  been  committed. 

The  farmer,  little  dreaming  of  the  tragedy  that  was 
about  to  be  played  in  real  life,  was  quietly  watching 
his  buffalo  grazing,  when  the  infuriated  mob  burst  upon 
him  and  seized  him.  The  sentence  that  had  been 
decided  upon  as  they  hurried  along,  that  he  should  have 
his  eyes  torn  out,  filled  him  with  horror.  He  begged 
and  prayed  and  entreated,  but  in  vain.  He  offered  a 
hundredfold  compensation  for  the  grain  that  had  been 
eaten,  nay,  he  would  relinquish  the  buffalo  that  had 
done  the  wrong,  if  they  would  only  leave  him  his  eye- 
sight. Every  heart  was  steeled  against  the  agonising 
cry  of  the  man  who  was  in  the  grip  of  a  furious  mob. 
It  was  not  money  that  was  wanted,  but  revenge,  and 


LYNCH  LAW  173 

in  a  few  minutes  the  terrible  deed  was  committed,  and 
the  man  was  left  on  the  ground  in  pain  and  anguish, 
never  more  to  see  the  light  of  day  nor  to  gaze  upon 
the  faces  of  those  he  loved. 

**  What  have  you  come  to  the  hospital  for?  "  I  asked 
him. 

'*  I  have  had  my  eyes  torn  out,"  he  said,  **  and 
having  heard  of  the  fame  of  the  English  doctor,  I 
have  come  to  see  if  he  would  not  put  new  ones  in." 
By  and  by,  when  he  was  taken  in  to  see  the  doctor, 
he  told  him  his  story,  and  in  piteous  tones  besought 
him  to  give  him  new  eyes.  **  I  have  heard  of  your 
reputation,"  he  said,  **  and  what  miracles  you  have 
been  able  to  work  amongst  your  patients.  Will  you  not 
use  your  great  skill,  and  give  me  back  my  eyesight?  " 
The  doctor  assured  him  that  he  would  be  only  too 
glad  to  do  so,  but  no  human  being  possessed  such  a 
power.  **  Oh  !  "  said  the  man,  in  a  plaintive  and  pitiful 
tone,  "it  is  not  that  you  cannot,  but  because  you  are 
unwilling  to  do  so,"  and  he  was  led  from  the  consult- 
ing-room bemoaning  his  sad  lot,  and  complaining  that 
the  doctor  refused  to  have  pity  upon  him  and  supply 
him  with  a  pair  of  new  eyes. 

A  confirmed  thief,  who  proves  himself  amenable  to 
no  law  or  discipline,  will  ultimately  be  condemned  by 
Judge  Lynch  in  the  highest  penalty  a  human  being 
cay  pay— and  that  is  death.  This  sentence  will  be 
carried  out  in  open  day  ;  no  policeman  will  appear 
on  the  scene,  and  no  movement  of  the  executive  will 
be  made  to  interfere  with  it  in  any  shape  or  manner 
whatsoever. 

A  recent  case  will  illustrate  what  I  mean.  A  farmer 
had  a  son  who  had  grown  up  to  be  as  bad  a  man  as 
it  was  possible  for  heathen  society  to  produce,  and  that 
means  a  great  deal.  He  was  an  opium -smoker,  a 
gambler,  and  a  profligate.  He  was  a  master  in  the 
vices  that  qualify  a  man  in  China  for  any  deed  of 
wickedness.  As  his  habits  were  expensive  and  he 
scorned  the  idea  of  work,  he  had  to  compel  society  to 
support  him.  A  farmer's  wife  would  wake  up  some 
morning  and  find  her  roost  empty.  At  another  house 
a  buffalo  would  disappear,  and  not  a  trace  could  be 
found   as   to   how   the   huge   brute   had   vanished.     A 


174    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

farmer  would  go  in  the  early  dawn  to  till  his  fields, 
and  find  that  several  rows  of  his  finest  "  eagle  "  potatoes 
had  been  dug  up  during  the  night,  and  carried  off. 
A  patch  of  melons,  too,  just  as  they  were  turning  a 
beautiful  golden  hue,  had  been  cut  from  the  vines  and 
taken,  no  one  knew  where.  The  excitement  through 
the  country-side  was  intense,  and  vows  were  made  that 
when  they  caught  the  thief,  they  would  visit  him  with 
the  direst  vengeance.  Everybody  was  perfectly  certain 
who  he  was,  but  he  was  too  clever  to  leave  the 
slightest  clue  by  which  they  could  bring  his  thefts 
home  to  him.  Without  this  no  one  would  touch  him, 
for  the  sense  of  justice  is  strong  in  the  Chinese,  and 
without  positive  evidence  men  would  not  dare  to  act. 
Even  the  mandarins,  when  they  have  the  clearest  proof 
of  a  man's  guilt,  will  not  execute  him  until  he  has 
signed  a  written  document  confessing  his  crime.  If 
he  does  not  do  this  willingly  he  is  beaten  to  a  jelly 
with  hard  bamboo  rods,  and  is  most  fiendishly  tortured 
to  compel  him  ;  but  until  he  puts  his  hand  to  the  paper 
and  signs  his  own  doom,  the  hand  of  the  executioner 
must  be  stayed. 

Time,  however,  the  great  detective,  ran  him  at  last 
to  earth.  A  wakeful  farmer  caught  him  in  the  very 
act  of  loosing  his  solitary  cow  to  lead  her  away  in  the 
darkness.  A  committee  of  angry  citizens  met  in  wild, 
tumultuous  disorder  at  dawn  next  morning.  The  thief 
had  actually  been  caught  at  last.  He  was  here,  trussed 
and  tied  in  so  stern  a  fashion  that  no  conjurer's  art 
could  ever  loose  him.  His  face  had  the  look  of  a  man 
that  knew  the  doom  that  was  awaiting  ,him,  but  he 
was  determined  not  to  show  the  white  feather. 

The  Chinese  at  his  quietest  is  a  loud-voiced  man,, 
and  talks  as  though  he  were  in  a  gale  of  wind  ;  but 
to-day  there  was  a  perfect  tempest,  as  the  men  remem- 
bered their  wrongs  and  discussed  their  schemes  of 
vengeance.  Finally,  they  dragged  the  criminal  to  his 
father's  farm,  and  told  him  that  they  had  decided  that 
he  should  act  as  the  executioner  of  his  son  by  burying 
him  alive  in  one  of  his  own  fields. 

The  man  shrank  back  with  horror  from  the  proposal, 
and  with  tears  and  entreaties  begged  and  prayed  the 
crowd  to  spare  him  from  this  horrible  fate.     But  what 


LYNCH  LAW  176 

were  tears  to  them,  or  the  breaking  hearts  and  agonised 
prayers  of  a  father  and  mother  that  tried  to  win  the 
life  of  their  wretched  son?  Vengeance  was  what  they 
wanted,  and  vengeance  they  would  have  ;  so  in  loud 
and  angry  voices  they  told  the  father  that  unless  he 
proceeded  to  carry  out  their  decision  at  once  they 
would  set  fire  to  his  homestead  and  drive  him  and  his 
family  from  the  place,  and  even  then  they  would  see 
that  his  miserable  son  should  suffer  the  penalty  of 
death. 

Terrified  at  what  he  knew  to  be  no  idle  threat,  he 
seized  a  hoe,  and  dug  a  hole  right  in  front  of  the  home 
where  the  son  had  lived  as  a  lad.  Then  by  the  direction 
of  the  lynchers  he  tied  a  stone  around  his  son's  neck, 
and  with  loud  cries  of  bitter  sorrow  that  wrung  his 
heart  he  pushed  him  in  and  shovelled  the  earth  over 
him.  When  the  tragedy  was  complete,  and  the  crowd 
had  stamped  down  the  soil  over  the  wretched  man 
beneath,  they  excitedly  separated  to  their  homes,  heed- 
less of  the  sorrowing  hearts  they  left  behind  them,  but 
satisfied  that  an  act  of  justice  had  been  performed 
that  would  win  the  approval  of  every  man  in  the  entire 
region. 

One  of  the  gravest  crimes  that  comes  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  Judge  Lynch  is  murder,  but  the  only 
penalty  he  ever  exacts  is  a  pecuniary  one,  and  but 
very  rarely  a  life  for  a  life.  This  crime  is  not  a 
capital  offence  in  China,  neither  does  the  law  deem 
it  necessary  that  it  should  concern  itself  about  it.  China, 
indeed,  seems  to  be  one  of  the  easiest  places  in  the 
world  where  mlirder  can  be  committed  with  complete 
immunity  to  the  murderer,  as  far  as  his  personal  safety 
is  concerned. 

A  man,  for  example,  kills  another.  No  policeman 
appears  on  the  spot  to  investigate  the  case  and  to 
arrest  the  criminal,  neither  does  any  one  dream  of 
appealing  to  the  mandarin  to  interfere  in  it.  Some- 
thing, however,  very  important  does  take  place.  A 
committee  of  the  nearest  friends  pi  the  dead  man  isc 
appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  case  and  to  wring, 
as  much  blood-money  out  of  the  murderer  or  his  family 
as  loud-voiced  arguments,  appeals  to  Heaven,  and 
screams  of  the  despairing  widow  will  enable  them  to 


176    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

extract.  The  murdered  man  may  have  been  a  very 
insignificant  member  of  society,  but  now  that  he  is 
dead  he  is  no  longer  so.  He  has  at  once  become  a, 
mightier  force  than  ever  he  could  have  been  when  he 
was  alive.  A  murdered  Chinese  is  any  day  worth  a 
score  of  living  ones,  and  any  man  of  ordinary  ambition 
ought  to  jump  at  the  idea  of  being  killed,  seeing  the 
immense  importance  he  at  once  assumes  in  the  family 
and  the  high  financial  value  at  which  he  is  appraised. 

It  is  exceedingly,  amusing  to  watch  how  Judge  Lynch, 
acts  in  a  case  like  this.  He  is  no  longer  the  stem* 
inflexible  avenger  of  justice,  whose  heart  is  imperviousi 
to  every  baser  motive  and  who  demands  only  that 
the  interests  of  truth  shall  be  subserved.  His  eyes 
have  been  blinded  by  the  shadow  of  gold  that  has  fallen 
upon  them,  and  now  even  the  dead  man  is  lost  sight 
of,  and  the  sacredness  of  human  life  vanishes  in  the 
thought  of  how  much  more  valuable  financially  a  corpse 
is  than  the  living  body.  The  one  aim  now  is  to  extract 
as  much  money  out  of  the  murd^erer  as  possible,  with- 
out regard  to  honour,  justice,  or  truth. 

The  judge  with  his  jury  consist  of  the  nearest 
relatives  of  the  murdered  man,  the  nearer  the  better — 
a  wife,  if  possible,  as  she  will  be  a  very  effective  and 
picturesque  figure  in  the  discussion  of  the  case.  If 
there  be  also  an  aged  father,  it  will  be  an  additional 
advantage,  for  he  can  plead  most  pathetically  from' 
a  standpoint  that  never  fails  to  appeal  to  the  Chinese. 
They  proceed  in  a  body  to  the  home  of  the  murderer, 
who,  expectant  of  their  arrival,  has  gathered  his  most 
powerful  relatives  around  him,  for  whatever  the  decision 
may  be,  they  will  have  to  share  with  him  the  respon- 
sibility. 

In  a  case  of  this  kind  no  time  is  lost  in  superfluous 
courtesies.  The  matter  is  stated  curtly  and  forcibly, 
and  a  certain  sum  for  compensation,  far  beyond  what 
they  expect  to  get,  is  demanded.  No  smile  must  cross 
the  face,  for  that  would  show  weakness.  A  stern  look, 
contracted  brows,  and  passion  in  the  voice  are  more 
effective,  for  the  aim  at  this  point  is  to  strike  terror 
into  the  hearts  of  the  other  side. 

To  produce  a  suitable  impression,  the  father  of  the 
murdered  man,  in  trembling  acce^ts  and  with  a  voice 


LYNCH  LAW  177 

filled  with  emotion,  speaks  of  his  son  who  has  been 
ruthlessly  torn  from  him  by  the  hand  of  the  assassin. 
He  describes  how  good  he  was  and  how  he  depended 
upon  him  to  be  the  solace  and  support  of  his  declin- 
ing years.  He  hoped,  moreover,  that,  after  his  death, 
he  would  bring  the  offerings  to  his  tomb  that  would 
reach  him  in  the  other  world  and  make  his  existence 
there  a  happy  one.  Now  his  spirit  will  have  to  wander 
hopelessly  and  aimlessly  about,  a  hungry,  wretched 
ghost,  since  the  son  who  could  have  put  gladness  into 
his  life  is  himself  a  wanderer  in  the  land  of  shades.. 
This  speech,  given  with  a  dramatic  power  of  which 
the  Chinese  are  masters,  is  producing  too  great  aii 
effect,  so  one  of  the  opposition  interrupts  him  and 
declares  that  the  man  was  killed  only  because  he  was 
the  aggressor,  and  that  it  was  by  the  merest  good 
luck  that  his  opponent  had  not  succumbed  before  the 
ferocity,  of  his  attack. 

Upon  hearing  this,  the  widow,  who  has  been  sitting 
by,  with  eyes  inflamed  and  tears  streaming  down  her 
face,  jumps  up  and  with  a  shriek  denounces  any  one 
who  would  say  a  word  against  her  dead  husband.  She 
is  a  striking  figure  and  acts  her  part  with  consummate 
ability.  Her  long  black  hair  hangs  dishevelled  down 
her  back,  her  eyes  flash  fire,  and  her  small,  delicately- 
shaped  hands  move  about  in  a  whirlwind  of  eloquence 
as  she  describes  her  desolate  condition.  There  is  a 
perfect  fascination  about  her,  as  with  passion  in  her 
voice  and  the  look  of  a  fury  in  her  mien  she  declaims 
against  the  dastardly  act  that  has  bereft  her  of  her 
husband,  and  made  her  children  fatherless.  What  a 
splendid  orator  she  would  have  made,  this  frail,  feeble- 
looking  woman,  as  with  unconscious  eloquence  she 
passes  with  the  rapidity  of  lightning  from  point  to 
point,  her  voice  rising  and  falling  in  harmony  with 
the  passion  of  the  moment. 

But  she  has  rivals  of  her  own  sex,  who  have  been 
burning  with  impatience  to  join  battle  with  her.  One 
by  one  these  gradually  take  the  floor,  without,  how- 
ever, for  one  moment  staying  the  flow  of  her  eloquence. 
In  a  moment  the  room  becomes  a  perfect  bedlam,  and 
one  can  only  see  excited  faces  and  waiving  hands,  and 
catch  now.  and  again  the  close  of  a  sentence  that  has 

12 


178    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

been  screamed  out  louder  than  the  rest.  After  hours 
of  this,  tired  out  by  incessant  talk  and  by  arguments 
repeated  over  and  over  again,  the  combatants  come 
to  terms,  and  a  certain  sum  having  been  offered  and 
accepted.  Judge  Lynch  declares  the  case  settled,  and 
this  decision  is  held  to  be  final  as  though  pronounced 
by  a  mandarin  in  open  court. 

The  system  of  lynch  law  is  more  effective  in  China 
than  hanging  is  with  us.  When  a  man  knows  that  he 
will  have  to  pay  high  pecuniary  damages,  that  will  have 
to  be  disbursed  either  by  himself  or  his  nearest  of  kin^ 
should  he  take  away  a  man's  life,  it  puts  a  restraint  upon 
him  even  in  his  moments  of  wildest  passion,  and  stays 
his  hand  from  murder. 


CHAPTER    XIV 

DOCTORS    AND    DOCTORING 

The  medical  profession  is  open  to  every  one  in  China, 
whether  it  be  man  or  woman,  without  any  of  the  limita- 
tions that  in  England  strictly  confine  it  to  those  who 
have  studied  for  it.  Here  there  are  no  university  exam- 
inations, no  hospitals,  no  study  of  medicine  or  of 
anatomy,  and  no  troublesome  certificates  demanded.  A 
long  robe,  a  look  of  profound  learning— such  as  one 
has  met  with  in  the  homelands— a  smattering  of  the 
names  of  certain  herbs  and  concoctions,  and  the  person 
is  ready  to  treat  the  most  intricate  case  that  ever 
puzzled  the  brain  of  a  first-rate  physician  in  the  \\^est. 

It  is,  perhaps,  the  ease  with  which  every  one  may 
become  a  doctor  that  induces  almost  every  Chinese  to 
profess  some  knowledge  of  medicine.  In  fact,  one  is 
apt  to  be  startled  when  he  finds  any  one  modest  enough 
to  say  that  he  knows  nothing  of  doctoring.  A  dirty, 
greasy-looking  Chinese  whose  clothes  have  never  been 
washed,  and  whom  you  would  hardly  touch  with  a  pair 
of  tongs,  attracts  your  attention.  He  is  a  common 
labouring  man,  with  no  more  intelligence  than  the 
ordinary  run  of  that  class.  You  are  apt  to  treat  him 
very  cavalierly,  as  a  man  you  do  not  wish  to  be  bothered 
with,  when  some  one  whispers  in  your  ear  that  he  is  very 
famous  as  an  amateur  doctor  and  has  cured  a  great 
number  of  those  whom  he  has  treated. 

I  have  rarely  met  with  any  one  that  could  not,  at  a 
moment's  notice,  prescribe  for  diseases  that  require  the 
highest  skill  in  their  treatment.  A  man,  for  example,  is 
in  the  last  stage  of  consumption.  A  rough-looking 
labourer,  uncouth  in  manners  and  with  a  voice  fit  to 
break  the  drum  of  one's  ear,  happens  to  come  in.  He 
diagnoses  the  case  as  though  he  were  a  professional, 

179 


180    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

and  declares  that  certain  herb's  carefully,  concocted  will 
infallibly  cure  the  sufferer.  No  one  expresses  any 
contempt  for  his  opinion.  Others  will  join  in  the  discus- 
sion, giving  each  their  remedies,  and  every  one  is  sure 
that  if  the  case  wei'e  in  his  hands  the  patient  would 
certainly  recover.  Usually,  when  a  man  intends  to 
take  to  doctoring  as  a  profession,  he  studies  the  works 
of  the  famous  men  that  lived  in  remote  times,  and  whose 
reputation  has  come  down  to  the  present  day  as  the 
founders  of  medical  science  in  this  country.  Such  books 
are  numerous,  and  the  fact  that  they  are  ancient  is  one 
of  their  chief  reconmiendations .  They  believe  that  if 
they  master  these  they  will  then  be  competent  to  deal 
with  any  of  the  diseases  that  those  great  men  treated 
with  such  success.  Tjhe  Chinese  have  no  faith  in  original 
discoveries  in  medicine.  Men's  bodies,  they  say,  are 
the  same  as  they  were  in  ancient  times.  Men  of  gigantic 
minds  and  penetrating  genius  studied  the  ailments  of 
mankind  and  left  the  result  of  their  discoveries  to 
posterity,  and  so,  to-day,  men  calmly  and  comfortably 
accept  the  prescriptions  given  in  those  books  with  the 
most   implicit   faith   and  confidence. 

Amongst  the  most  famous  of  the  medical  works  exist- 
ing at  the  present  day  is  one  by  the  celebrated  Emperor 
Shin  Nung,  who  lived  B.C.  2737.  You  try  and  convince 
a  Chinese  scholar  that  he  is  a  mythical  character  and  he 
will  triumphantly  knock  you  over  by  pointing  to  the 
treatise  that  bears  his  name.  Shin  Nung  is  to-day 
worshipped  as  the  God  of  Medicine.  In  order  to 
account  for  his  wonderful  knowledge  it  is  said  that  he 
was  originally  a  fairy  who  assumed  the  human  form 
out  of  pity  for  poor  humanity,  which  was  suffering 
from  diseases  that  men  could  not  control.  To  help  him 
in  his  errand  of  mercy  he  was  born  with  a  transparent 
stomach,  by  which  he  was  enabled  to  test  the  action  of 
a  large  number  of  herbs  and  to  observe  how  certain 
foods  were  transformed  during  the  process  of  digestion. 
The  results  of  his  observations  were  recorded  in  the 
treatise  that  men  believe  was  written  by  him,  and  doctors 
use  it  to-day  as  the  highest  authority  that  exists  on 
drugs. 

Coming  down  later  to  the  period  of  Chinese  history 
called   the   "Three   Kingdoms"    (a.D.    221-54),    Hwa 


DOCTORS  AND  DOCTORING  181 

T'o  figures  as  one  of  the  great  names  in  the  medical 
profession.  He  was  evidently  a  bold  and  daring  prac- 
titioner, for  he  believed  in  the  use  of  the  knife  when  it 
was  requisite  to  save  life.  It  is  said  that  during  the 
struggle  for  the  kingdom  by  the  three  rival  claimants 
for  the  throne,  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  day  was  wounded 
in  the  arm  by  a  poisoned  arrow.  Death  would  have 
ensued  in  a  few  hours  had  not  Hwa  T*o  cut  into  the 
bone  and,  washing  out  the  poison,  saved  the  man's  life. 
Another  famous  warrior,  hearing  of  his  success,  sent  for 
him  to  prescribe  for  a  severe  pain  that  he  had  in  his 
head.  After  examining  him  for  some  time,  Hwa  T'o 
said,  "  Your  disease  requires  prompt  and  heroic  treat- 
ment. If  you  wish  to  recover,  you  must  allow  me  to 
open  your  skull.  I  shall  then  be  able  to  remove  the 
disease  that  is  injuring  your  brain,  and  you  will  be 
restored  to  perfect  health."  The  patient  was  horrified 
at  this  proposal,  and  looking  at  him  sternly,  said,  "  It 
is  evident  that  you  wish  to  murder  me,  but  I  shall 
frustrate  your  plans  by  having  you  executed,"  and  he 
was  accordingly  hurried  off  to  prison,  where  in  a  few 
days  he  was  beheaded.  .Whilst  he  was  waiting  to  be 
put  to  death  the  gaoler  was  exceedingly  kind  to  him 
and  did  everything  in  his  power  to  mitigate  the  bitter- 
ness of  his  position.  Hwa  T'o,  to  compensate  him  for 
his  goodness  to  him,  presented  him  with  a  manuscript 
that  contained  all  his  famous  prescriptions.  **  I  have 
nothing  else  to  give  you,"  he  said,  **  but  if  you  carefully 
preserve  this,  it  will  be  a  source  of  wealth  to  you  and 
to  your  children  for  many  generations." 

The  gaoler  hurried  home  with  the  precious  document, 
and  handing  it  to  his  wife,  told  her  to  put  it  away  in  the 
safest  place  she  could  find,  for  he  assured  her,  with 
flashing  eyes,  that  neither  they  nor  their  children  need 
ever  want  with  such  a  precious  possession  as  this.  After 
preserving  it  carefully  for  some  time,  she  one  day  took  it 
out,  and  tearing  the  leaves  apart,  began  to  bum  them. 
Whilst  she  was  doing  this  her  husband  entered  and 
asked  her  what  she  was  doing.  *'  I  am  burning  Hwa 
T'o's  book,"  she  said.  "  I  have  been  thinking  what  a' 
sad  end  was  his  and  how  iall  his  knowledge  was  the  cause 
of  his  death.  Some  of  these  days  when  you  become 
famous   through   using   his    book,   you,    too,   may   end 


182  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

your  life  on  the  scaffold,  and  so  I  thought  I  had  better 
destroy  it,  and  so  secure  you  from  such  a  miserable 
destiny/*  The  gaoler  was  only  just  in  time  to  save  a 
portion  of  the  famous  collection,  and  this  has  been 
treasured  ever  since.  The  directions  it  contains  are 
carried  out  by  the  profession  throughout  the  whole 
empire. 

Gliding  down  the  stream  of  time,  we  come  to  the 
Simg  Dynasty  (begun  in  A.D.  960).  At  this  date  there 
existed  a  doctor,  of  the  name  of  Sun,  whose  fame  has 
travelled  down  to  the  present  day.  He  has  long  since 
been  deified,  and  temples  innumerable  have  been  erected 
to  his  honour.  One  of  his  titles  is  '*  The  Great  God  that 
Preserves  Life."  He  had  the  reputation  in  his  day  of 
being  able  to  cure  almost  any  disease  that  was  brought 
to  him.  On  one  occasion  his  skill  was  severely  tested. 
The  Queen  fell  ill,  and  none  of  the  Court  physicians 
could  do  her  any  good.  Sun  had  already  become 
famous  and  so  the  Emperor  summoned  him  to  the 
palace  to  see  whether  he  could  cure  her  or  not.  As 
it  i^as  impossible  that  he  should  be  allowed  into  the 
presence  of  the  Queen,  it  was  arranged  that  a  silken 
thread  should  be  tied  over  her  pulse,  and  that  he  should 
hold  the  end  of  it  in  the  adjoining  room  and  by  that 
means  diagnose  the  case.  The  Queen,  who  had  not 
full  faith  in  Sun,  thought  that  she  would  test  him 
before  taking  his  medicines,  so  she  fastened  the  thread 
to  the  bedpost.  The  moment  he  got  hold  of  the  string 
he  cried  out,  **  This  is  wood,  it  is  not  a  human  hand." 
Amazement  was  depicted  upon  every  countenance,  but 
the  Queen  determined  to  try  him  still  further,  so  she 
tied  it  to  the  leg  of  a  dog.  Instantly  he  exclaimed  that 
he  was  being  played  with,  as  the  thread  was  in  contact 
with  a  lower  animal  and  not  with  the  pulse  of  the 
Queen.  All  doubt  now  vanished  from  the  royal  mind, 
and  Sun  soon  showed  his  great  ability  by  curing  a 
disease  that  had  baffled  all  the  celebrated  physicians  of 
the  day. 

Doctors  are  broadly  divided  into  two  classes,  those 
who  treat  internal  diseases  and  those  that  profess  to 
be  able  to  deal  with  external  complaints.  Occasionally 
the  same  man  will  undertake  to  prescribe  for  both. 
In  order  to  have  a  chat  with  a  Chinese  doctor,  and 


DOCTORS  AND  DOCTORING  183 

at  the  same  time  watch  his  methods  of  treatment,  I 
invited  one  to  come  and  see  my  servant  who  had  been 
suffering  from  ague.  In  a  short  time  the  Chinese 
y^sculapius  appeared,  dressed  in  a  long  white  robe,  and 
with  a  dignity  of  manner  that  is  natural  to  the  Chinese 
when  he  is  doing  the  polite.  He  was  a  tall,  spare  man 
of  about  fifty.  His  face  showed  a  certain  refinement 
that  seemed  to  indicate  that  he  had  made  a  serious 
study  of  his  profession  and  that  he  was  prepared  to 
accept  any  responsibility  that  a  difficult  case  might 
bring  upon  him.  His  smile  was  a  pleasant  one  and 
would  help  to  inspire  confidence  in  any  one  he  was 
treating. 

His  examination  of  the  servant  was  systematic  and 
thorough.  He  made  him  sit  down  right  in  front  of 
him  and  with  his  first  three  fingers  he  felt  the  pulse 
of  the  left  hand.  The  way  he  did  this  seemed  to  me 
most  comical,  for  he  kept  moving  them,  just  as  though 
he  were  playing  on  the  keys  of  a  piano.  After  about 
three  minutes  of  this  musical  practice,  he  did  the  same 
with  his  right  hand.  I  asked  him  why  he  examined 
both  pulses.  *'  Are  they  not  precisely  the  same  in 
their  actions?'*  I  inquired.  "No,"  he  said,  "they 
certainly  are  not.  The  reason  why  I  felt  both  was 
because  I  wanted  to  find  out  the  seat  of  the  disease. 
The  whole  of  the  body,"  he  continued,  "  is  divided 
into  twelve  chambers.  Six  of  these  belong  to  the  left 
and  six  to  the  right  pulse.  I  have,  therefore,  to  examine 
the  two  to  find  out  the  particular  chambers  that  are 
affected." 

"  And  what  is  the  result  of  your  examination  so 
far?  "   I   inquired. 

"  I  find  that  the  liver  and  gall -chambers  are  both 
affected  by  cold  and  this  has  resulted  in  fever.  The 
patient  needs  medicines  that  will  specially  act  on  these." 

After  this  we  got  into  conversation  about  the  gall, 
which  plays  a  most  important  part  in  the  estimation 
of  the  Chinese.  "  Some  men,"  he  said  reflectively, 
"  have  very  small  ones,  whilst  others  again  have  very 
large    ones." 

"  Which  do  you  think  is  the  most  serviceable  for 
mankind  in  general?  "  I  asked.  "  The  small  ones, 
mpst    decidedly,"    he    promptly    replied.      **  Men    with 


184    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

small  galls  are  amiable,  inoffensive  people  that  are 
never  a  danger  to  society.  Men  with  large  galls,  on 
the  other  hand,  are  daring,  fierce,  and  bloodthirsty.  For 
soldiers  a  large  gall  is  indispensable.  They  need  this 
to  meet  the  foe  heroically,  to  rush  into  the  forefront 
of  battle,  and  dare  to  face  death  in  any  shape."  Polite- 
ness restrained  me  from  hinting  that  the  Chinese  nation, 
as  far  as  fighting  was  concerned,  seemed  to  have  been 
endowed  by  Nature  with  particularly  small  galls.  He 
might  not,  indeed,  have  been  offended  if  I  had,  for  to 
tell  a  man  that  he  has  a  small  gall,  that  he  is  a 
coward,  never  raises  a  blush  to  his  face  nor  passion 
in  his  heart,  but  he  replies,  *'  That  is  quite  true,  my 
gall  is  a  very  small  one  indeed." 

I  now  asked  him  to  explain  to  me  his  theory  of  the 
twelve  chambers.  **  The  body,"  he  replied,  bowing 
gracefully  to  me,  "  is  divided  into  twelve  compartments 
as  it  were.  At  fixed  hours  of  the  day  the  blood  moves 
with  precise  regularity  into  one  of  these.  For  example, 
the  heart  being  in  the  exact  centre  of  the  body,  the 
blood  flows  into  it  at  twelve  o'clock.  Any  blow  on  it 
at  that  hour  would  be  apt  to  prove  fatal,  for  the  vital 
forces  are  then  gathered  into  it,  and  any  violent  disturb- 
ance of  them  might  result  in  death.  The  same  is  very 
much  the  case  with  the  other  chambers,"  he  continued, 
**  but  since  they  are  farther  removed  from  the  seat 
of  life,  the  result  of  any  injury  to  them  when  the  blood 
is  collected  in  them  is  not  likely  to  be  so  immediately 
serious  as  in  that.  Of  course,  I  do  not  mean,"  he  said, 
*'  that  every  drop  of  blood  in  the  body  really  goes  into 
any  one  particular  chamber,  and  that  the  rest  is  left 
destitute  of  any.  There  is  an  active,  controlling  force 
in  the  blood  that  urges  it  to  travel  into  the  various 
chambers.  To  injure  this,  the  vital  power  in  the  blood, 
is  to  endanger  life  at  the  very  fountain." 

This  medical  theory  is  firmly  believed  in  by  the  pubHc 
generally,  and  especially  by  professional  boxers  and 
pugilists.  These  latter,  in  their  contests  with  each 
other,  aim  at  those  chambers  that  are  believed  to  be 
then  filled  with  a  full  tide  of  blood,  for  they  believe 
that  if  they  can  only  strike  them  they  will  inflict  the 
most  serious  injury  on  their  opponents.  The  Chinese 
are  exceedingly  superstitious  on  this  point,  and  after 


DOCTORS  AND  DOCTORING  185 

they  have  been  once  struck  by  these  trained  boxers  they 
will  declare  that  they  feel  pains  in  the  region  where  the 
blow  fell  years  after  the  event.  Men  with  pale  faces, 
hacking  coughs,  and  broken-down  physiques  will 
declare  that  they  trace  the  beginning  of  bad  health  to 
some  blow  that  a  boxer  gave  them— it  may  be  months, 
or  even  years,  ago. 

Two  principal  causes  are  assigned  by  the  medical  men 
of  China  for  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  diseases 
that  afflict  the  people  of  this  empire,  viz.,  heat  and  cold. 
As  a  result,  medicines  and  even  foods  are  divided  into 
two  great  classes,  cooHng  and  heating.  When  a  man 
is  run  down,  and  his  blood  moves  sluggishly  and  life 
is  a  burden,  the  slowly  ebbing  vital  forces  must  1)6 
whipped  into  action  by  foods  and  medicines  that  have 
an  element  of  fire  in  them.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
is  feverish,  and  the  pulse  is  quick  and  excited,  cooling 
remedies  must  be  applied. 

To  reduce  a  fever,  a  favourite  remedy  is  uncooked 
pears.  These  have  no  resemblance,  except  in  appear- 
ance, to  our  home  fruit.  They  are  nearly  tasteless,  and 
so  hard  that  they  almost  require  an  axe  to  penetrate 
them.  It  is  a  most  pathetic  sight  to  see  a  man  with 
flushed  face  and  bloodshot  eyes  making  feeble  efforts 
to  bite  into  these  bits  of  rock  in  the  hope  of  quenching 
his  thirst  and  allaying  his  fever.  You  suggest  that  some 
milk  would  prove  more  palatable  and  at  the  same  time 
more  nourishing  ;  but  you  are  reniinded  that  milk  is 
heating  and  that  it  would  only  add  fuel  to  the  fires 
that  are  already  raging  in  the  sick  man.  Many  men  in 
this  country  have  been  slowly  starved  to  death  owing  to 
their  determined  belief  that  the  very  things  that  would 
have  restored  them  to  health  would  be  the  death  of  them 
if  they  ate  them. 

The  Chinese  have  a  profound  faith  in  doctors,  and  a 
capacity  for  taking  huge  doses  of  medicine.  In  fact, 
they  rather  seem  to  enjoy  themselves  in  being  sick  and 
in  having  to  swallow  concoctions  siifflcient  to  fell  an 
ox  with  their  strength.  This  well-known  infirmity  has 
given  rise  to  a  class  of  strolling  quacks  who  travel 
about  the  country  and  profess  to  cure  every  disease 
that  flesh  is  heir  to.  They  are  known  T^y  their  dress, 
being  a  gown  that  comes  down  to  their  ankles,  that  at 


186    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

some  period  in  the  past  was  white,  and  by  carrying 
a  white  flag  on  which  is  inscribed  in  flaring  characters 
the  fame  they  have  acquired  in  the  curing  of  disease. 

These  men  are  clever  scamps  who  have  failed  in 
every  other  profession  and  have  taken  up  this  itinerant 
doctoring  as  a  last  resource.  They  have  a  tlioroughly 
Bohemian  look  about  them,  and  yet  there  is  something 
in  their  general  appearance  that  makes  one  have  a 
sneaking  liking  for  them.  But  let  me  describe  a  typical 
one.  Usually  he  has  a  broken-down,  battered  look  that 
tells  a  story  that  one  can  read  at  a  glance.  His  lif6 
has  been  evidently  a  stormy  one,  and  he  has  not  lived! 
it  with  any  great  success.  One  can  see  from  his  clothes 
the  desperate  efl'ort  that  he  is  making  to  keep  up  his 
respectability.  They  are  worn  and  seedy-looking  and 
threadbare,  but  the  tenderest  care  is  taken  of  them, 
for  if  they  were  allowed  to  sink  much  lower  he  would 
not  be  able  to  maintain  the  appearance  that  his  pro- 
fession demands.  His  shoes  have  a  decidedly  unhappy 
look,  and  seem  as  if  at  any  moment  they  would  give  up 
the  ghost  and  vanish.  As  tlie  country  people,  how- 
ever, largely  go  barefooted,  or  simply  use  straw 
sandals  when  they  are  making  a  journey,  this  fact  has 
no  significance  in  their  eyes. 

His  face  is  sharp-featured  and,  on  the  whole,  not  an 
unpleasant  one.  It  has  the  look  rather  of  an  adventurer 
than  of  a  villain.  One  can  see  that  behind  it  there  is  a 
lurking  humour  that  flashes  out  continually  at  something 
grotesque  in  the  human  life  upon  wliich  he  is  practising. 
His  eye  is  bright  and  piercing,  and  seems  to  take  in 
everything  and  to  be  always  on  the  lookout  for  a 
possible  patient,  and  to  be  able  by  some  special  in- 
stinct to  pick  him  out  from  the  crowd  at  a  moment's 
glance.  Long  and  varied  experience  enables  him  to 
read  character  and  to  know  how  it  can  be  played  upon 
with  success.  As  you  look  upon  him  you  feel  that  you 
have  before  you  a  man  who  knows  the  ins  and  outs 
of  all  the  shadiest  phases  of  Chinese  life,  and  yet  one 
who  has  suflicient  humour  in  him  not  to  have  been 
utterly  contaminated  by  the  men  and  the  scenes  in 
which  he  has  mixed. 

Their  peculiar  ability  is  not  displayed  with  so  much 
advantage     in     the     cities,     where     men's     wits     have 


DOCTORS  AND  DOCTORING  187 

sharpened,  as  in  coimtry  places  and  especially  at  fairs. 
There  they  are  in  their  element,  for  they  have  a  splendid 
field  upon  which  to  exercise  their  talents,  there  being 
no  more  credulous  people  in  the  world  in  regard  to 
their  ailments  than  the  Chinese.  They  select  a 
prominent  place  where  the  crowd  is  the  greatest,  and 
display  their  stock-in-trade  which  is  to  work  such 
miracles  upon  the  farmers  and  country  bumpkins  that 
gather  round,  with  wonder  in  their  eyes,  to  gaze  upon 
the  strange   medicines. 

To  the  uninitiated  they  seem  to  be  a  very  poor 
collection  with  which  to  carry  out  the  healing  art. 
Bundles  of  dried  roots  and  grasses  with  the  sap  out  of 
them,  and  serpents'  flesh,  black  and  disgusting-looking, 
and  herbs  that  have  a  reputation  in  the  Chinese 
pharmacopoeia,  are  spread  out  without  any  attempt  to 
make  them  attractive  or  alluring.  There  are  also  little 
pyramids  of  decayed  and  unwholesome -looking  teeth 
that  have  served  their  day  in  the  mouths  of  others,  and 
are  prepared  to  do  yeoman  service  for  those  who  have 
had  the  misfortune  to  have  lost  theirs.  But  the  man's 
hope  of  gain  lies  not  in  his  herbs  nor  his  concoctions, 
but  in  his  wits.  A  knot  of  rustics  gathers  around  him, 
and  keen -eyed  and  with  a  smile  in  his  heart  he  scans 
the  faces  of  the  crowd  as  they  stand  before  him.  One 
man  seems  particularly  green,  and  the  quack  sees  in 
him  a  splendid  subject  on  whom  to  work,  so  he  opens 
with  :  *'  My  dear  sir,  you  must  please  excuse  me  for 
addressing  you,  but  I  feel  I  really  must  speak  to  you. 
Do  you  know  that  you  are  suffering  from  a  disease  that 
at  any  moment  may  prove  fatal  to  you?  You  may  not 
have  realised  this,  but  my  professional  training  enables 
me  to  see  in  what  a  very  precarious  condition  you 
are."  The  countryman  is  startled,  and  his  face  turns 
to  a  greenish -yellow.  A  tremor  passes  over  him,  and 
perspiration  starts  from  every  pore.  He  suddenly 
begins  to  feel  quite  unwell.  He  looks  round  on  the 
people  at  his  side  in  a  kind  of  dazed  way,  whilst  they 
nod  and  whisper  to  each  other  that  the  man  after  all 
does  look  as  though  there  was  something  serious  the 
matter  with  him. 

To  increase  the  effect  the  quack  says,  **  Put  out 
your  tongue."     The  man,  shaking  with  fear,  nervously 


188    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

protrudes  it.  It  is  as  red  as  a  beet,  but  no  one  in 
the  crowd  knows  what  is  a  good  tongue  or  what  is  a 
bad  one.  **  See,"  says  the  doctor,  "  what  an  awful 
tongue  the  man  has  got  I  The  disease  is  working  fast, 
and  he  may  thank  his  stars  that  he  has  met  me  to-day, 
foir  I  have  the  very  medicine  that  will  cure  him.  I  know 
his  case  well,  for  I  have  been  the  means  of  saving  many 
a  poor  fellow  just  like  him  who  but  for  me  would  have 
been  in  his  grave  long  ago."  A  look  of  relief  passes 
over  the  face  of  the  countryman  when  he  realises  that 
this  clever  doctor  has  just  the  medicine  that  will  heal 
him.  He  eagerly  buys  a  number  of  his  pills,  and  he 
leaves  for  home  to  tell  his  wife  what  a  wonderful 
discovery  he  has  made  to-day,  and  how,  but  for  the 
doctor's  skill,  he  would  be  a  dead  man  in  a  few  days.- 
The  character  of  these  quacks  is  well  known,  and  yet 
there  are  always  plenty  of  dupes  ready  to  be  taken  in 
by  them.  When  a  Chinese  is  sick  he  is  prepared  to 
take  any  medicine  or  any  advice  that  a  person  with  a 
ready  tongue  will  advise  him  to  adopt.  It  no  doubt 
speaks  well  for  the  soundness  of  the  Chinese  constitu- 
tion that  in  spite  of  untrained  doctors,  quacks,  amateurs, 
and  lying  mediums  the  people  of  this  empire  are  as 
healthy  and  robust  as  they  are  to-day.  China  is  a  signal 
instance  of  the  mighty  power  of  Nature  to  keep  a  people 
well,  not  simply  without  trained  medical  men  but  in 
the  face  of  the  crassest  and  rudest  treatment  that  ever 
hurried  men  to  their  graves. 


CHAPTER    XV 

MONEY     AND     MONEY-LENDING 

The  great  mass  of  the  Chinese  people  are  in  a  chronic 
state  of  debt.  It  seems  to  be  the  natural  and  normal 
state  in  which  a  Chinese  passes  his  life.  He  is  born 
into  it  ;  he  grows  up  in  it  ;  he  goes  to  school  with  it  ; 
he  marries  in  it  ;  and  he  ultimately  leaves  the  world 
with  the  shadow  of  it  resting  on  him  in  his  last  moments. 

This  state  of  things  does  not  seem  to  depress  him  in 
the  least.  It  is  a  phase  common  to  at  least  three -fifths 
of  the  whole  community.  Like  the  smells  that  have 
come  down  in  legitimate  succession  from  the  past,  and 
dwell  in  the  homes,  and  take  up  their  permanent  abode 
in  the  streets  and  alley -ways  of  every  town  and  hamlet 
in  the  empire,  so  debt  is  one  of  the  heirlooms  that  has 
been  bequeathed  by  the  ancestors  of  this  people  to  their 
posterity.  No  one  is  ashamed  of  being  in  debt,  for  as 
everybody  knows  his  neighbour's  business  in  China,  any 
attempt  to  conceal  the  fact  would  be  met  with  absolute 
failure.  The  very  fact  that  debt  is  a  permanent  institu- 
tion in  the  country  may  be  a  reason  why  men  so  light- 
heartedly  incur  it,  when  they  are  perfectly  conscious 
that  it  will  embarrass  them  for  many  a  long  year  to 
come. 

A  man,  for  example,  is  arranging  for  the  marriage  of 
his  son.  This  is  always  an  expensive  affair.  There  is 
the  dowry  to  be  paid  for  the  bride,  and  there  are  certain 
feasts  that  must  be  given  at  the  wedding  in  order  that 
the  *'  face  "  of  the  family  may  be  maintained.  All  this 
requires  ready  money  to  meet  the  necessary  expenses 
incidental  to  the  carrying  out  of  the  marriage  plans,  but 
this  he  has  not  got.  The  question  now  arises,  where  is 
it  to  come  from?  The  father  is,  perhaps,  already  in 
debt.       An    Englishman    would    think    twice    before 

189 


190    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

venturing  on  such  a  perilous  course  as  adding  to  his 
responsibilities.  A  Chinese  looks  at  the  thing  differ- 
ently. The  marriage  must  take  place  and  the  in- 
evitable feasts  must  be  given.  Scores  of  people,  many 
of  whom  he  does  not  care  a  button  for,  but  who  have 
to  be  invited  for  form's  sake,  will  eat  and  drink  him 
into  poverty,  and  yet,  with  a  mind  that  absolutely  re- 
fuses to  think  of  the  future,  he  will  go  round  and  borrow 
the  sum  that  is  to  be  lavished  upon  what,  but  for  '*  face," 
might  nearly  all  have  been  saved. 

The  Chinese  is  a  mystery.  Usually  he  is  what  might 
be  called  "  stingy  with  his  money."  Every  cash  ^  is 
looked  upon  solemnly  and  with  concern.  He  will 
haggle  over  that  smallest  and  only  coin  in  the  realm, 
as  though  to  save  one  were  a  m^^tter  of  supreme  im- 
portance. Long  discussions  will  take  place  and  noisy 
altercations,  all  about  whether  half  a  dozen  cash  more  or 
less  should  be  saved  in  some  disputed  case.  English- 
men will  dispute  about  shillings,  but  not  about  farthing's, 
but  a  shilling  is  a  magnificent  sum  to  a  Chinese.  It 
actually  contains  five  hundred  of  these  precious  cash 
of  his,  which  are  quite  sufficient  to  support  in  com- 
parative luxury  a  middle -class  family  for  two  or  three 
days.  Every  cash,  therefore,  in  ordinary  circumstances, 
is  a  matter  of  moment  to  him  ;  but  when  it  comes  to  a 
marriage,  or  some  occasion  where  the  *'  face  "  of  a 
family  is  involved,  he  will  spend  the  dollars,  each  of 
which  is  worth  one  thousand  cash,  with  as  lavish  a 
hand  as  though  he  were  an  Englishman  who  had  the 
Bank  of  England  at  his  back. 

A  month  after  the  event,  which  was  declared  to  be 
a  prodigious  success  by  every  one  who  was  present,  and 
to  have  added  immensely  to  the  family  '*  face,"  the 
creditor  with  footsteps  sure  as  fate  comes  round  for 
his  interest.  The  probability  is  that  the  man  has  no 
ready  money  to  pay  it,  and  a:  delay  of  a  month  is 
asked,  with  the  assurance  that  the  two  months'  interest 
will  be  paid  at  the  same  time.  This  request  is  readily 
granted,  but  it  is  only  the  commencement  of  a  long* 
series  of  pecuniary  struggles  that  get  more  and  more 
severe  as  the  interest  gradually  a:ccumulates,  and  be- 
coming compound,  actually  assumes  a  more  threatening 

*  A  cash  is  about  the  one-thousandth  part  of  two  shillings. 


MONEY  AND  MONEY-LENDING  191 

aspect  than  does  the  original  sum  that  was  first 
borrowed.  As  long  as  the  interest  is  paid  somewhat 
regularly,  things  go  on  quite  smoothly,  but  when  money 
becomes  short,  so  that  neither  it  nor  the  principal  is 
forthcoming,  there  are  apt  to  be  stormy  scenes,  and,  in 
order  to  get  rid  of  his  importunate  creditor,  an  appeal 
has  to  be  made  to  other  money-lenders  to  advance  a 
sum  sufficient  to  pay  him  off. 

These  money-lenders  are  not  a  distinct  class  such 
as  exist  in  England,  but  they  are  every  one  who  has 
any  spare  cash  at  his  disposal.  A  servant  woman 
has  saved  a  dollar  out  of  her  wages,  and  she  at  once 
looks  round  for  some  one  with  whom  she  can  invest 
it.  A  coolie  finds  himself  with  a  surplus  of  three 
dollars,  and  he  lends  them  to  some  neighbour  who  is 
needing  just  that  amount.  The  whole  Chinese  empire 
may  be  said  to  be  in  a  perpetual  state  of  borrowing 
and  lending,  and  a  large  majority  of  its  people  ^re 
daily  concerned  with  that  most  practical  question  how 
they  shall  pay  the  interest  to  the  minority  who  have 
lent  them  money. 

A  Chinese  is  one  of  the  keenest  of  business  men 
and  knows  the  reproducing  power  of  money.  He  never 
dreams  of  hiding  it  away  in  some  cupboard  or  in  a 
long  stocking.  He  would  think  it  the  sheerest  folly 
to  do  anything  of  the  kind.  It  is  the  same  with  men 
who  have  considerable  sums  at  their  command.  They 
are  shy  of  banks  that  have  a  habit  of  breaking,  and 
besides  they  can  do  better  with  needy  farmers  or  house- 
holders, who  can  give  them  good  security  in  the  shape 
of  goods — deeds  on  their  fields  or  houses  that  can 
be  seized  should  there  be  any  difficulty  about  paying 
up  principal  or  interest.  The  lack  of  mutual  con.- 
fidence  causes  the  rate  of  interest  to  be  very  high. 
Where  first-class  security  can  be  given,  the  charge  is 
12  per  cent.  This  is  considered  low,  aiid  is  accepted 
because  there  are  no  risks..  The  percentage  rises  with 
the  decrease  in  the  value  of  the  security,  till  36 
per  cent,  is  demanded. 

The  sorrow  caused  by  poverty  and  the  inability  to 
pay  their  creditors  is  felt  by  the  very  poor,  but  where 
there  are  any  very  young  children  the  strain  falls  most 
heavily  upon  them.     In  order  to  satisfy  the  demands  of 


192    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

those  to  whom  they  owe  money,  the  poor  are  very  often 
compelled  to  sell  their  children  in  order  to  be  able 
to  retain  their  home  and  the  few  fields  that  have  been 
left  them  by  their  fathers.  A  man,  for  example,  has 
an  only  son,  four  or  five  years  old.  When  his  creditor 
comes  to  him  and  demands  payment  and  is  told  that 
he  has  nothing  with  which  he  can  pay  him,  he  simply 
points  to  the  debtor's  son  and  suggests  that  the  solution 
of  his  difficulties  lies  ready  to  his  hand.  "  Sell  him,"  he 
says,  '*  and  you  can  pay  me  what  you  owe  and  have 
a  little  over  with  which  you  can  start  afresh." 

When  the  evening  has  closed  in,  and  the  village  is 
shrouded  in  shadows,  and  the  little  fellow  that  they  love 
almost  as  their  own  lives  is  sleeping  the  peaceful  sleep 
of  childhood,  the  father  and  mother  talk  in  Whispers 
about  the  awful  tragedy  that  is  going  to  darken  their 
lives.  The  child  must  be  sacrificed  to  save  their  home, 
for  their  creditor  has  no  mercy  and  no  compassion, 
and  he  will  never  rest  till  he  has  wrung  his  money 
out  of  them.  To-morrow  morning  comes  and  the  little 
fellow  is  led  away  by  his  father  to  see  the  sights,  so 
he  tells  him,  of  the  great  city  that  lies  a  few  miles 
away.  The  mother's  heart  is  fit  to  break  as  she  looks 
upon  the  lad  for  the  last  time.  Moved  by  her  agony, 
he  clings  to  her,  and  will  not  leave  her,  but  the  father 
tells  him  of  the  fine  things  he  is  going  to  see  and  the 
beautiful  presents  he  will  bring  back  to  his  mother. 
With  a  child's  romantic  thoughts  of  the  great  town 
where  all  the  wonders  of  the  world  are  collected,  he 
trots  off  with  a  smiling  face,  though  the  tear-drops 
still  glisten  between  his  eyelids. 

Arrived  in  the  city,  he  is  at  once  in  fairyland.  Such 
shops  and  such  toys  and  such  crowds  of  men  he  never 
saw  before.  His  father  takes  him  into  a  large  house 
that  seems  to  him  wonderfully  grand,  but  somehow  or 
other  the  people  are  not  so  nice  to  him  as  those  in  his 
own  poor  home.  Not  one  face  shows  the  look  of 
love  that  filled  the  eyes  of  his  mother  every  time  she 
gazed  upon  him.  He  shrinks  closer  to  his  father's 
side,  and  wonders  why  he  stays  so  long  there.  A  man 
sits  at  a  table  and  writes  words  that  he  occasionally 
reads  aloud.  Little  does  he  dream  that  the  pen  that 
glides  so  easily  down  the  page  is  forging  fetters  that 


MONEY  AND  MONEY-LENDING  193 

shall  bind  him  for  ever  to  the  new  home,  and  is  snap- 
ping at  the  same  time  the  Divine  tie  that  knits  him 
to  his  father  and  mother. 

The  deed  of  sale  is  at  last  finished  atnd  signed  by 
his  father.  A  certain  sum  of  money,  say  about  seven 
pounds  sterling,  is  handed  over  to  him,  and  the  docu- 
ment that  defies  the  eternal  laws  of  God  is  put  away 
in  a  place  of  safety. 

To  pacify  the  little  fellow,  the  father  tells  him  that 
he  is  going  out  a  short  time,  and  that  he  must  be  a 
good  boy,  and  that  he  will  come  back  and  take  him 
home  to  his  mother.  The  lad  keeps  a  wistful  ey© 
upon  the  door,  and  starts  at  every  approaching  foot- 
step, but  never  more  will  he  catch  sight  of  his  father, 
and  never  again  will  the  loving  eyes  of  his  mother 
awaken  dreams  of  happiness  in  his  young  heart. 

This  is  no  fanciful  picture  that  I  have  been  drawing. 
It  is  one  from  real  life,  and  yet  it  is  not  so  sad  a 
one  as  when  the  daughter  is  disposed  of  for  the  same 
reason.  The  boy  is  sold  to  become  a  son  ;  arid  socially 
he  is  placed  in  a  better  position  than  ever  he  could 
have  been  had  he  remained  in  his  own  home.  The  girl, 
on  the  other  hand,  becomes  a  slave  and  loses  her 
freedom.  Her  master  can  do  as  he  likes  with  her. 
He  can  treat  her  kindly  or  he  can  make  her  life  a 
misery,  and  whenever  he  chooses  he  can  sell  her  to 
another.  Her  parents,  from  the  moment  that  the  deed 
of  sale  has  been  executed  and  the  purchase  money 
handed  over  to  them,  have  no  more  control  over  herl 
than  if  they  had  sold  a  cow  or  a  horse  which  became 
the  absolute  property  of  the  purchaser. 

Another  very  common  way  of  raising  money  is  by 
resorting  to  the  pawnshop.  This  is  specially  the  case 
with  the  poorer  people  who  want  to  borrow  small 
sums  for  immediate  use,  and  for  which  they  can  give 
no  security  excepting  clothes  and  household  furniture 
such  as  they  have  at  their  own  disposal.  These  insti-^ 
tutions  exist  all  over  the  country,  and  are  found,  not 
only  in  the  large  cities  but  also  in  the  rural  districts. 
They  are  generally  owned  by  some  wealthy  clans  that 
have  sufficient  influence,  to  protect  themselves  from  the 
squeezes  of  the  mandarins  and  the  attacks  of  robbers. 

In  Chijia  it  is  no  light  matter  to  be  the  owner  of 

13 


194    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

a  pawnshop.  The  ma)idarins  of  the  district,  who  are 
always  on  the  lookout  to  see  in  what  way  they  can 
enrich  themselves,  have  their  eyes  continually  on  it, 
Like  a  hawk  that  hovers  in  the  air  looking  out  for  its 
prey,  so  these  gentry  wait  for  some  chance  to  pounce 
upon  the  pawnbroker  to  relieve  him  of  surplus  cash. 
All  the  bad  characters,  too,  of  the  neighbourhood  look 
with  envious  eyes  upon  th^e  rich  mine  of  wealth  that 
lies  hidden  within  the  walls  of  the  pawnshop.  In 
ordinary  times,  when  the  mandarin's  rule  is  rigorous, 
no  attempt  is  made  upon  it.  Any  relaxation,  how- 
ever, in  administering  the  laws  becomes  an  encourage- 
ment to  the  opium-smokers  and  gamblers  and  villains 
of  a  region,  and  some  dark  night  fifty  or  sixty  of 
them  will  band  together  to  storm  the  place  and 
plunder  it. 

In  order  to  be  prepared  for  such  contingencies,  it  is 
built  very  strongly,  and  fortiified  as  though  it  were  a 
castle.  There  is  only  one  entrance  to  it,  and  the 
framework  of  this  is  made  of  strong  blocks  of  granite, 
whilst  the  door  is  constructed  of  thick  planks  of  wood, 
and  secured  by  heavy  locks  and  huge  cross-bars  fixed 
transversely  across  it  on  the  inside.  An  ample  supply, 
moreover,  of  guns  and  ammunition  is  prepared  to 
enable  it  to  stand  a  siege.  In  spite  of  all  these  pre- 
cautions, it  often  happens  that  the  band  of  robbers 
win  their  way  into  the  inside  through  th^e  death  of  some 
of  its  defenders,  and  then  they  carry  off  sufficient  spoil 
to  enable  them  to  live  a.  dissipated  life  for  months  to 
come. 

In  addition  to  these  large  establishments  with  great 
influence  and  wealth  behind  them,  there  are,  in  every 
city,  smaller  shops  with  a  limited  capital,  which  advance 
small  sums  to  the  very  poorest,  whose  belongings  would 
not  be  accepted  by  th^e  richer  places.  It  is  the  very 
dregs  of  society  that  in  their  extreme  poverty  come 
to  these  with  their  poor,  almost  worn-out  garments  to 
get  a  few  cash  to  enable  them  to  tide  over  the  day. 

The  rate  of  interest  charged  by  all  is  2  per  cent, 
a  month,  but  on  woollen  goods  it  rises  to  3  per 
cent.,  because  the  risk  is  greater,  since  they  are  more 
likely  to  become  mouldy,  and  so  lose  their  market 
value  in  case  they  a.re  not  redeemed.     In  the  larger 


MONEY  AND  MONEY-LENDING  195 

shops  the  goods  must  be  taken  out  before  the  expiry, 
of  three  years  and  four  months.  After  that  time  the 
owners  have  no  more  claim  upon  them,  and  they  may 
be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  house.  In  order  that 
the  goods  may  not  suffer  from  damp,  &:c.,  during  the 
time  they  are  in  pawn,  it  is  the  custom,  as  well  as  the 
law,  that  the  pawnbroker  shall  have  them  sunned  at 
regular  intervals.  If  he  neglects  to  do  this  and  the 
articles  are  soiled,  the  owners  may  claim  their  value 
in  the  courts  of  law. 

In  the  smaller  shops  the  time  limit  is  only  four 
months.  From  this  may  be  inferred  the  character  of 
the  articles  that  are  taken  in  pawn.  They  have  been 
worn  to  the  very  limit  of  endurance,  and  they  have 
become  so  ingrained  with  dirt  and  grease  that  to  allow 
them  to  remain  for  any  longer  period  on  the  shelves 
would  cause  them  to  deteriorate  to  such  an  extent  that 
they  would  actually  become  valueless. 

The  larger  pawnshops  act  also  as  money-lenders, 
though  this  is  not  their  main  business.  Those  in  the 
country  lend  to  poor  farmers,  who  are  always  short 
of  cash,  and  who,  with  the  recklessness  of  the  average 
Chinese,  are  pricpared  to  borrow  sums  that  they  must 
know  they  can  never  repay  without  immense  suffering 
to  themselves.  The  interest  demanded  is  paid  out  of 
the  crops  when  they  are  gathered,  and  a  representative 
of  the  pawnshop  stands  in  the  fields  and  takes  its 
value  in  grain  or  in  sweet  potatoes  as  these  are 
harvested  by  the  debtor.  This  interest  is  always  a 
first  charge  upon  the  produce  of  the  farm,  and  must 
^be  paid,  though  the  family  may  be  standing  by  with 
tearful  eyes,  sullen  faces,  and  aching  hearts,  as  they 
see  starvation  stalking  towards  them,  whilst  the  servants 
of  the  pawnshop  carry  off  the  larger  portion  of  the 
crop  on  which  their  very  lives  depend. 

When  the  harvests  are  abundant,  the  collection  of 
the  interest  brings  less  suffering  ;  but  when  the  rain 
fails  and  the  great,  red,  hot  sun  looks  down  with  rays 
that  scorch  and  burn  the  poor  suffering  crops,  that 
shrink  and  shrivel  up  until  only  a  fraction  of  them 
can  be  gathered,  then  the  most  piteous  and  affecting 
scenes  may  be  witnessed.  These,  however,  never  touch 
the   heart   of   the    pawnshop.      That    is    conducted   on 


196    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

stern  business  lines,  and  such  things  as  sentiment  or 
kindly  generous  feelings  are  never  allowed  to  cross  the 
counter,  or  interfere  with  the  money  transactions  of 
the  establishment. 

One  of  the  things  that  strike  an  Englishman  in 
China  is  the  utter  heartlessness  of  the  richer  classes 
for  the  poor,  in  times  when  droughts  or  famine  or 
mighty  floods  render  their  condition  d,esperate.  An 
Englishman's  first  impulse  in  such  circumstances  is 
to  dive  his  hands  deep  into  his  pockets  and  give  a 
subscription  to  help  the  sufferers.  A  rich  Chinese 
has  no  such  generous  instinct. 

His  barns  may  be  full  of  grain,  which  he  has  stored 
in  anticipation,  and  the  people  may  be  dying  by 
hundreds  of  starvation  in  the  districts  around,  but  not 
a  grain  goes  out  to  save  a  single  life.  He  will  sell  art: 
famine  prices,  but  as  for  bestowing  any  of  his  precious 
store  upon  the  men  and  women  and  little  ones  who 
are  crying  out  piteously  for  food,  he  will  never  dream 
of  doing  anything  so  romantic  or  absurd. 

Instances  are  constantly  occurring  of  the  heartless- 
ness of  the  rich  towards  the  poor,  and  especially  of 
these  pawnbrokers,  who,  utterly  ignoring  the  kindlier 
instincts  of  human  nature,  extract  their  pound  of  flesh 
without  mercy  and  without  pity.  A  case  in  point  will 
illustrate  this  fact. 

A  widow  who  owned  a  small  farm  had  occasion  to 
borrow  some  money  from  one  of  these  men,  with  the 
agreement  that  the  interest  should  be  paid  in  kind 
when  the  crops  were  gathered.  Unfortunately,  it  was 
a  bad  year,  and  when  she  had  harvested  her  rice  and 
potatoes  she  found  that  after  the  pawnshop  had  taken 
its  share,  there  would  not  be  enough  left  to  maintain 
herself  and  her  children  till  the  next  harvest  was 
gathered.  In  terror  at  the  prospect,  she  managed  to 
secrete  some  of  her  corn,  but  the  sharp  eyes  of  the* 
representative  of  the  pawnshop  quickly  detected  what 
she  had  done,  and  he  and  his  men  searched  the  premises 
and  discovered  the  precious  hoard  she  had  hidden  away. 
The  discovery  turned  out  to  be  the  beginning  of  a 
tragedy  that  was  to  bring  disaster  upon  both  the  widow 
and  the  pawnshop.  The  former,  heart-broken  at  the 
prospect  before  her,  deterjuined  to  put  an  end  to  her 


MONEY  AND  MONEY-LENDING  197 

sorrows  at  once,  and  so  she  committed  suicide.  Her 
relatives  at  once  laid  a  complaint  before  the  local 
mandarin,  and  accused  the  pawnbroker  of  having  been 
the  cause  of  the  death  of  the  widow,  and  they  claimed 
substantial  damages  from  him.  These  he  was  willing 
to  pay,  and  happy  would  he  have  been  had  the  case 
been  allowed  to  be  settled  on  such  easy  terms. 

A  new  element  had  in  the  meantime  been  imported 
into  the  matter,  and  that  was  the  mandarin.  He  had 
long  wished  to  be  able  to  lay  his  hands  on  so  fat  a 
goose  as  the  pawnshop,  and  pluck  it  to  his  heart's  con- 
tent. His  chance  had  now  come.  He  pretended  to  be 
highly  indignant  at  the  conduct  of  the  pawnbroker.. 
He  had  violated  all  the  instincts  of  humanity  ;  he 
declared  that  he  had  sinned  against  Heaven  and  had 
driven  a  poor  unfortunate  woman,  who  had  no  husband, 
to  defend  her,  to  her  death.  A  striking  example  must 
be  made  of  him  so  that  others  would  fear  to  imitate 
his  heartless  conduct.  The  end  of  the  matter  was 
that  he  was  so  squeezed  by  the  official  and  his  satellites 
that  he  was  finally  ruined  and  his  establishment 
broken  up. 

Common  report  held  that  his  punishment  for  his 
cruel  treatment  of  the  widow  did  not  end  with  the  loss 
of  his  property.  Two  or  three  years  after,  his  son 
suddenly  became  insane  and  died  a  horrible  death., 
Every  one  believed  that  this  tragic  event  was  caused 
by  the  spirit  of  the  dead  woman,  wh,o,  in  her  desire 
to  wreak  her  vengeance  on  the  man  who  had  caused 
her  death,  had  hurled  this  terrible  calamity  upon  the 
son. 

A  rich  money-lender  in  the  neighbourhood,  hearing 
of  his  death,  conscience-stricken,  immediately  gave 
notice  to  all  his  debtors  that  he  forgave  them  any 
interest  that  might  be  owing  him.  He  was  terrified 
lest  the  spirits  of  some  of  those  whom  he  had  tortured 
when  they  were  in  life  should  come  and  avenge  their 
wrongs  on  himself  or  some  member  of  his  family,  and 
he  hoped,  by  this  timely  act  of  repentance,  to  avert 
their  wrath. 

The  standard  currency  of  the  Chinese  that  prevails 
throughout  the  empire  is  the  tael,  abput  one  ounce, 
weight  of  silver  ;    all  books  are  kept,  and  all  business 


198    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

transactions  are  conducted,  on  this  basis.  There  is  no 
coin  that  represents  a  tael,  but  ingots  of  silver,  weigh- 
ing so  many,  taels,  are  carried  by  persons  who  a;re 
traveUing  and  can  be  exchanged  for  cash  at  any  of 
the  money-changers'  shops  that  swarm  throughout  the 
country.  If  a  person  does  not  wish  to  change  the 
whole  of  his  ingot,  he  can  chop  off  as  large  or  as 
small  a  bit  as  he  likes  from  it,  and  the  money-changer 
will  weigh  it  and  give  him  its  equivalent  in  cash. 

In  ordinary  every-day  life,  where  people  have  to 
make  small  purchases,  the  tael,  as  a  buying  power,  is 
not  brought  into  requisition.  It  flies  too  far  above 
the  heads  of  vast  numbers  of  the  community,  and  so 
the  Government  has  issued  copper  cash,  the  only  minted 
coins  recognised  by  it.  They  are  about  the  size  of  a 
shilling,  with  a  square  hole  in  the  centre,  to  permit 
of  their  being  strung  in  hundreds.  Ten  of  these 
hundreds  make  a  dollar,  which  is  worth  about  two, 
shillings.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  a  cash  is  of  very 
small  value,  being  the  one-thousandth  part  of  a  dollar. 

Foreigners  in  China,  finding  it  exceedingly  incon- 
venient to  carry  on  business  with  lumps  of  silver,  or 
with  the  unwieldy  cash,  introduced  the  Mexican  dollar 
as  the  medium  of  currency,  still  retaining  the  tael,  how- 
ever, as  the  standard  by  which  the  relative  value  of 
the  dollar  was  to  be  estimated.  Its  use  only  extends 
to  the  places  where  foreigners  reside  or  foreign  trade 
has  largely  penetrated.  Beyond  these  only  the  tael 
and  the  cash   are   recognised. 

For  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  the  real  and  only 
currency  is  the  cash.  The  tael  is  what  might  be  called 
the  aristocratic  medium,  for  it  deals  with  the  revenue 
of  the  empire,  and  is  familiar  with  fat,  plethoric  ledgers, 
and  is  always  present  at  the  sale  or  transfer  of  land. 
In  great  political  transactions  where  millions  are  con- 
cerned, it  is  the  only  force  that  is  recognised,  whilst 
in  the  fluctuations  of  the  Chinese  stock  exchange,  in 
the  various  provinces,  the  variations  in  the  money 
market   centre   around   it. 

The  cash,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  plebeian  coin. 
It  is  the  friend  and  the  ally  of  the  very  poorest.  The 
beggarman  has  always  a  few  in  his  pouch.  The 
labouring  man,  who  would  never  dream  of  taels,  thinks 


MONEY  AND  MONEY-LENDING  199 

himself  well  paid  for  a  long  day/s  toil  if  h^  gets  two, 
hundred  cash.  A  skilled  workman  will  close  the  day 
with  smiles  upon  his  face  when  he  carries  home  three 
hundred,  and  hands  them  to  his  wife  to  meet  the 
expenses  of  the  household,  and  her  eyes  will  glisten  as 
she  looks  upon  the  generous  sum  that  her  husband  has 
given  her. 

A  man  goes  to  market  with  si  string  of  cash 
ostentatiously  thrown  over  his  shoulder,  as  though  he 
would  intimate  to  the  shopkeepers  that  ready  money 
was  the  thing  he  was  going  to  deal  in  to-day,  and 
that,  therefore,  they  must  pay  great  deference  to  him. 
He  buys  a  pound  of  rice  for  thirty  cash,  a  pound  ,of 
sweet  potatoes  for  ten,  a  pound  of  fish  for  one  hundred 
and  twenty,  and  vegetables  enough  for  the  whole  family, 
some  of  them  fresh  from  the  farmers'  fields  and  others 
with  a  peculiar  odour,  as  though  they  had  been  pickled 
in  the  ark  and  had  been  lying  around  in  some  dark, 
damp  place  ever  since,  for  fifty.  But  perhaps  to-day 
is  a  festival,  and  he  means  to  make  merry  with  his 
family,  so  he  buys  a  fowl  for  three  hundred  and  fifty 
and  a  pint  of  samshu  for  sixty.  He  must  have  some 
cakes,  so  he  buyjs  a  few  common  ones  at  one  cash 
apiece,  others,  nice  and  flaky  with  sweetmeats  cunningly 
hidden  in  their  hearts,  at  five  cash  each.  For  the 
children  he  buys  a  dozen  pieces  of  toffee^,  crisp  and 
appetising,  at  one  cash  each.  As  dessert  he  chooses 
half  a  dozen  oranges  at  five  cash  each  and  a  pineapple 
for  thirty.  After  he  has  bought  enough  for  the  feast 
he  has  still  a;  few  remaining  hundreds  left  of  the 
thousand  that  hung  so  carelessly  over  his  shoulder  as 
he  marched  to  the  market  to  make  his  purchases. 

The  cash  is  essentially  a  poor  man's  coin  and  always 
casts  a  kindly  glance  upon  the  man  who  is  struggling 
with  poverty  and  who  can  barely  buy  enough  to  live 
in  a  decent  kind  of  way.  Cash  ^  utterly  refuse  to 
become  respectable  or  to  accumulate  in  any  large 
quantity.  They  demur  to  being  carried  about  the 
person,  excepting  in  such  limited  quantities  as  suit  the 
purse  of  a  poor  man.  The  moment  you  overstep  the 
limit  they  become  an  intolerable  burden  and  you  wish 
to  change  them  into  dollars  or  taels,  but  then  you  step 

*  A  thousand  cash  weigh  about  2  lb. 


200    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

out  of  the  region  of  the  poor,  who  never  finger  such 
aristocratic  coins.  If  a  man  were  going  on  a  long 
and  expensive  journey  and  planned  to  take  fifty  pounds 
in  cash  to  meet  his  expenses,  he  would  have  to  hire 
a  donkey  to  carry  them,  and  at  the  same  time  engage 
two  soldiers  with  loaded  guns  to  keep  them  from  being 
plundered  by  the  way.  He  would  never  do  anything 
so  foolish.  He  would  elect  to  take  silver  taels  that  he 
could  hide  away  among  his  clothes,  and  he  would 
g'radually  change  these  into  humble  cash  as  he  from 
time  to  time  wished  to  make  his  purchases.  The  cash 
is  a  necessity  of  life  in  China.  It  is  a  precious  medium 
for  all,  but  especially  for  the  poor,  whom  it  always 
has  in  its  eye,  and  it  proves  a  real  friend  to  these 
by  enabling  them  to  huy^  many  articles  without  which 
they  could  not  live.  ^  - 


CHAPTER    XVI 

PLAYS   AND    PLAY-ACTORS 

The  great  nlational  and  universal  amusement  of  the 
Chinese  is  theatricals.  Whatever  other  methods  of 
recreation  there  may  be  that  are  used  to  divert  the 
leisure  hours  of  the  people,  there  is  none  that,  for  a 
moment,  can  be  compared  with  these.  They  are  the 
ideal  form  of  enjoyment  ;  and  rich  and  poor,  the  most 
learned  scholar  as  well  as  the  most  illiterate  rustic,  all 
look  upon  the  stage  as  the  supreme  place  of  joy,  where 
men's  thoughts  are  diverted,  and  where,  for  a  .time 
at  least,  the  sorrows  of  the  heart  are  banished. 

It  is  at  the  foot  of  the  stage  that  the  commonest 
people  can  revel  in  scenes  where  royal  personages 
appear,  and  where  statesmen  whose  names  are  house- 
hold words  come  forth  out  of  the  mystery  of  the  past, 
and,  for  once  in  the  hearing  of  the  crowds,  make  the 
famous  speeches  that  have  rendered  them  immortal. 
Ancient  dynasties  that  have  long  since  passed  away  live 
again  before  the  eyes  of  the  men  of  this  generation, 
and  warriors  and  emperors,  in  the  regal  habits  and 
the  airmour  of  the  times  in  which  they  lived,  once  more 
enact  some  of  the  famous  scenes  that  the  pen  of  the 
historian  or  the  song  of  the  poet  has  handed  down  to 
posterity. 

This  mode  of  enjoyment  is  in  profound  hamiony 
with  the  antique  character  of  the  Chinese  mind,  which 
revels  in  all  that  belongs  to  the  far-off  past.  Men 
revere  the  classics  very  largely  because  they  were 
written  in  the  early  dawn  of  Chinese  history.  The 
worthies  and  sages  that  are  the  models  for  everything 
that  is  perfect  in  life  would  lose  much  of  their  power 
could  they  be  transformed  into  men  of  the  present  day. 
Antiquity  has  cast  an  aureole  around  their  brows  that 

201 


202  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

transfigures  them,  and  helps  to  make  them  the  recog- 
nised *'  teachers  of  a  thousand  generations."  An  old 
carving  of  an  ancient  bowl — in  fact,  anything  that  has 
the  stamp  of  age  upon  it — is  a  thing  to  be  looked  upon 
with  hushed  reverence  ;  and  so  these  historical  plays 
are  gazed  upon  with  a  mixture  of  awe,  because  they 
bring  back  the  buried  past  and  reproduce  figures  that 
have  long  since  vanished  from  life. 

The  occasions  on  which  the  plays  are  performed 
are  numerous.  A  rich  man's  birthday  comes  round. 
This  must  be  celebrated  by  a  feast  and  a  play.  Nothing 
in  the  whole  round  of  the  imagination  of  the  Chinese 
could  surpass  these  for  the  pure  and  unalloyed  happi- 
ness they  would  give.  A  feast  alone  would  be  divine, 
but  the  addition  of  a  play  would  add  a  zest  to  it 
that  none  of  the  guests  would  ever  forget.  A  play, 
accordingly,  is  arranged  for,  arid  the  finest  actors  that 
money  can  procure  are  engaged,  and  the  rich  man  and 
his  family  with  their  guests  are  sent  into  raptures  of 
delight,  whilst  the  great  public  share  in  the  rejoicings 
of  the  day  and  heartily  wish  that  a  rich  man's  birthday 
would  only  come  round  every  day  in  the  year. 

The  most  fruitful  source,  however,  of  theatricals  is 
the  idols.  The  Chinese  have  endowed  all  these  with 
decidedly  human  passions.  They  are  exceedingly  fond 
of  money,  and,  like  the  men  that  worship  them,  they 
are  believed  to  be  ready  to  perform  any  service  if  only 
they  are  properly  paid.  They  have  an  abstract  prefer- 
ence for  good,  but,  if  the  bribe  be  heavy  enough,  they 
are  prepared  to  desert  the  right  and  in  the  most  un- 
blushing manner  confer  their  blessing  on  the  villain. 
Their  pleasures  run,  too,  in  the  same  line  as  that  of  their 
worshippers,  and  there  is  nothing  that  will  put  an  idol 
on  such  good  terms  with  everybody  as  a  rousing  play, 
when  there  are  lots  of  fun  and  noise,  screeching  music 
and  clang  of  cymbals,  beat  of  drum,  and  hilarious 
amusement. 

The  birthday,  for  example,  of  the  public  idol  in  ai 
popular  temple  comes  round.  He  is  a  god  with  ,'ai 
reputation.  He  has  sent  blessings  into  many  a  home, 
the  people  say,  and  men  speak  with  feeling  of  the 
remarkable  answers  that  have  been  given  to  their 
petitions.     Dut  of  gratitude   for  all  this,  and  with  a 


PLAYS  AND  PLAY-ACTORS  203 

keen  eye  to  the  future,  special  preparations  are  made 
to  do  honour  to  him.  There  is  a  feeHng  that  if  this 
be  not  done  the  idol  will  revenge  himself  on  society 
by  sending  some  great  calamity  that  will  put  the  com- 
munity into  mourning.  This  danger  must  not  on  any 
account  be  risked.  The  god  must  be  put  into  a  good 
humour,  and  so  arrangements  are  made  for  making 
his  birthday  a  pleasant  one— so  pleasant,  indeed,  that 
when  the  worshippers  come  by  and  by  with  their  endless 
requests  he  will  remem'ber  the  happy  day  they  gave 
him  and  will  lavish  his  gifts  upon  th^em.  One  of  the 
main  factors  in  this  elaborate  preparation  is  a  play. 
The  Chinese  are  an  exceedingly  practical  people  and, 
like  many  Occidentals,  endeavour  to  combine  religion 
with  business.  The  killing  of  two  birds  with  one  stone, 
especially  when  it  brings  grist  to  the  mill,  is  an  ideal 
act  that  puts  a  twinkle  into  the  Chinese  eye  and  a  sweet 
and  childlike  smile  into  the  yellow,  sphinxlike  face. 

It  is  a  very  extraordinary  fact  that  though  the  nation 
has  this  profound  love  for  theatricals,  actors  are  looked 
down  upon  with  contempt  by  every  class  of  society. 
Their  profession  is  considered  to  be  so  disreputable 
that  their  children  are  not  allowed  to  enter  the  public 
examinations  for  any  of  the  four  literary  degrees. 
They  consequently  can  never  become  recognised 
scholars,  nor  take  any  position  under  the  Govern- 
ment. Whatever  may  be  the  causes,  there  is  no 
question  but  that  play-acting  has  a  decidedly  bad  moral 
effect  upon  the  men  who  get  their  living  by  it.  They 
are  generally  opium-smokers,  gamblers,  and  prodigals 
of  the  lowest  type.  A  look  at  their  faces  is  enough  to. 
convince  one  that  they  are  men  who  have  no  character 
to  lose,  for  they  have  a  dissipated  air  that  has  settled 
permanently  on  their  features.  The  circumstances  in 
which  they  live  are,  no  doubt,  largely  responsible  for 
the  vices  into  which  they  have  fallen.  They  have  a 
great  deal  of  spare  time  on  their  hands.  They  are 
illiterate  and  predisposed  by  the  very  character  their 
profession  bears  to  spend  it  in  a  low  and  vicious  mode 
of  living,  and  as  their  money  comes  easily  so  it  is  spent 
with  a  liberal  hand,  the  consequence  being  that  there  is 
often  only  a  step  between  them  and  absolute  poverty. 

Actors  in  China  are  divided  into  four  classes.     The 


204    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

first  are  those  that  take  the  parts  of  mandarins  or  royal 
personages.  Such  persons  require  to  have  an  easy, 
dignified  carriage,  suitable  to  the  exalted  characters 
they  have  to  impersonate.  They  must  naturally  have 
that  polished,  graceful  swing  that  is  a  sign  in  this  land 
either  of  literary  culture  or  of  blue  blood,  so  that  when 
they  are  representing  some  distinguished  personage  they 
may  not  shame  him  by  some  plebeian  habits  that  would 
set  the  audience  in  a  roar  of  laughter.  The  second 
are  those  who  assume  the  role  of  female  slaves  or  of 
women  in  common  life.  As  women  are  not  allowed  to 
appear  on  the  stage  in  China,  the  parts  representing 
them  have  to  be  taken  by  men.  The  third  are  those 
who  personate  ladies  in  respectable  life,  and  they  dress 
up  to  imitate  them  so  exactly  that  a  stranger  to  Chinese 
ways  would  never  discover  that  they  were  not  women. 
Their  whole  get-up  is  absolutely  perfect.  The  dressing 
of  the  hair,  the  binding  of  the  feet  to  imitate  the 
**  golden  lilies  "  of  the  upper  classes,  the  hang  of  the 
dress,  and  the  feminine  mincing  gait  that  is  the  result 
of  the  crushing  of  the  feet — all  are  lifelike  and  natural. 
The  fourth  is  what  we  might  really  call  the  clown, 
though  he  has  no  grotesque  or  laughter-provoking  dress, 
such  as  distinguishes  the  same  character  in  the  West. 
He  is  a  man  who  is  naturally  full  of  humour,  and  whose  ' 
face  easily  takes  a  facetious  look.  He  is  constantly 
ready  at  certain  parts  of  the  play  with  jokes  and 
repartee  that  send  the  crowd  into  fits  of  laughter.  His 
face  is  quite  enough  to  destroy  any  seriousness  that 
may  exist  in  the  audience,  and  it  is  so  flexible  and  the 
movement  of  a  few  muscles  will  so  touch  the  people 
with  a  sense  of  the  ludicrous  that  they  will  have  to  hold 
their  sides  to  prevent  them  from  splitting. 

Of  the  above  classes  the  one  that  represents  the  high- 
class  lady  is  the  best  paid.  An  actor  who  takes  this 
part,  especially  if  he  be  a  distinguished  one,  is  a  most 
popular  character,  and  the  announcement  that  he  is 
going  to  appear  in  a  certain  play  will  bring  the  people 
from  far  and  near  to  witness  his  performance. 

Every  actor  has  to  go  through  a  severe  course  of 
training  by  specially  qualified  masters  before  he  is 
allowed  to  take  a  leading  part  in  any  play.  As  a  rule, 
he  begins  as  a  boy.     The  manager  of  a  troupe  will 


PLAYS  AND  PLAY-ACTORS  205 

either  buy  some  lads  from  their  parents  or  he  will 
have  them  indentured  to  him  for  a  term  of  years.  They 
are  at  once  set  to  study  the  play  in  which  boys  can 
take  a  part.  The  masters  that  train  them  are  very 
strict,  and  often  punish  them  most  cruelly  for  mistakes 
or  carelessness  in  failing  to  get  by  heart  the  pieces  they 
have  to  learn.  After  they  have  advanced  in  their  studies 
they  are  put  on  an  easy  piece,  where  they  have  to 
take  a  more  or  less  prominent  part.  They  thus  gain 
confidence  and  get  rid  of  that  nervous  feeling  that 
makes  them  afraid  to  face  the  public.  At  length  after 
years  of  experience  they  gradually  learn  their  profes- 
sion and  they  are  then  prepared  to  take  any  part  in 
that  particular  line  for  which  they  have  shown  a  marked 
aptitude. 

The  Chinese  plays  may  be  roughly  divided  into  two 
great  classes.  The  first  of  these  deals  entirely  with 
what  may  be  called  historical  subjects,  whilst  the  other 
has  to  do  with  the  comedies  and  tragedies  of  every- 
day life.  It  may  be  remarked  here  that,  in  tracing 
back  the  history  of  the  present  Chinese  drama,  there 
is  a  universal  consensus  of  opinion  that  the  puppet 
shows  that  are  still  most  popular  throughout  the  empire 
were  the  original  from  which  it  has  sprung.  That 
this  is  believed  to  be  the  case  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  usually  before  the  commencement  of  any  play  the 
audience  is  treated  to  a  puppet-show  display,  not 
because  it  is  part  of  the  programme  but  as  a  memorial 
tribute  to  the  men  of  ancient  times  who  had  the  in- 
ventive genius  and  also  the  goodness  of  heart  to  employ 
their  great  powers  in  devising  a  never-ending  source 
of  amusement  and  entertainment  for  the  benefit  of 
posterity. 

The  historical  plays,  as  already  stated,  are  entirely 
concerned  with  the  great  and  striking  events  that  have 
marked  the  history  of  the  past.  Many  of  the  most 
exciting  of  these  deal  with  the  stories  of  well-known 
heroes  who  came  forth  to  save  the  empire  when, 
perhaps,  the  barbarians  of  the  North  had  invaded  China 
and  were  carrying  fire  and  sword  amongst  the  people 
inhabiting  the  provinces  lying  nearest  the  home  of  the 
robbers.  The  fierce  struggle  in  which  the  untamed 
hordes  of  Huns  or  Mongols  are  driven  back  with  terrific 


/ 


206    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

slaughter  into  the  steppes  from  which  they  had  issued 
is  brought  in  a  most  reaUstic  manner  before  the 
audience,  as  the  actors,  entering  into  the  spirit  of  the 
murderous  contest,  play  their  parts  with  consummate 
ability  and  with  the  highest  enthusiasm.  Chinese 
history  abounds  in  scenes  that  have  been  dramatised. 
The  theatre  has  thus  been  the  means,  not  only  of 
educating  the  common  people,  who  are  mostly  illiterate, 
in  the  great  events  of  the  past,  but  also  of  keeping 
up  the  national  worship  of  the  heroes  and  heroines  who 
have  played  so  mighty  a  part  in  the  days  that  have  long 
since  passed  away. 

These  theatricals  have  had  a  most  unhappy  influ- 
ence in  keeping  alive  and  intensifying  the  inborn  hatred 
of  the  Chinese  against  all  foreigners.  From  the  earliest 
dawn  of  their  history  the  nation  has  suffered  most 
grievously  from  the  inroads  of  the  savage  and  hostile 
tribes  that  have  lived  across  the  northern  and  western 
borders.  Huns  and  Mongols,  and  Kins  and  Tartars 
have  successively  inflicted  the  most  terrible  disasters 
upon  the  empire.  They  have  slaughtered  the  people, 
ravaged  their  towns,  and  left  them  smoking  ruins.  They 
carried  off  thousands  of  the  inhabitants  and  even  some 
of  the  emperors  into  captivity,  where  they  died  far 
away  from  their  families  and  from  their  kingdom.  At 
two  different  times  the  country  was  subjugated  by  these 
marauding  foes,  and  the  Mongol  and  Manchu  dynasties 
displaced  the  native  rulers  of  the  country.  It  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at,  therefore,  that  a  most  bitter  hatred  lies 
slumbering  in  the  heart  of  every  Chinese  to-day  against 
all  foreigners  of  whatsoever  nationality.  The  story  of 
the  past  has  been  transmitted  with  Oriental  fidelity 
from  father  to  son,  and  from  generation  to  generation, 
and  the  bloody  details  have  sunk  deep  into  the  heart  of 
every  inhabitant  of  this  vast  empire,  and  revenge  for 
all  the  sorrows  and  woes  that  the  barbarians  have 
brought  upon  China  is  the  one  predominant  feeling 
in  the  heart  of  its  people. 

Now,  these  historical  plays  have  been  the  means  of 
intensifying  the  bitterness  and  contempt  of  the  people 
against  the  foreigner.  They  are  acted  everywhere — 
in  the  quiet  village,  in  the  homes  of  the  rich,  in  the 
crowded  cities,  and  in  the  busy  market  towns.     Every- 


PLAYS  AND  PLAY-ACTORS  207 

where,  indeed,  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  land  the  story  of  plunderings  and  massacres  done 
upon  their  innocent  forefathers  is  vividly  portrayed  with 
all  the  passion  and  dramatic  power  that  the  actors 
possess.  In  these  plays  everything  is  done  to  make 
the  barbarian  as  hateful  and  contemptible  as  possible. 
He  is  represented  as  a  monster  in  appearance.  His 
face  is  dragged  out  of  shape,  and  his  mouth  is  made 
to  appear  near  his  ear.  His  beard  on  one  side  is  red 
and  on  the  other  blue.  His  eyes  are  fierce  and  staring, 
and  savagery  and  murder  are  stamped  upon  his  hideous 
features.  That  is  the  conception  that  the  people  in 
the  interior,  who  have  never  come  into  actual  contact 
with  the  foreigner,  have  of  the  hated  barbarian. ^  To 
their  minds,  there  is  no  distinction  between  one  foi^eigner 
and  another.  English,  French,  or  German  are  all  alike 
barbarians,  to  be  destroyed  and  murdered  as  the  savages 
in  former  days  slaughtered  their  forefathers. 

The  second  class  of  plays  deals,  as  I  have  already 
described,  with  a  larger  variety  of  subjects,  having  the 
whole  of  human  life  as  the  field  on  which  to  practise. 
They  are,  consequently,  much  more  popular  and  at 
the  same  time  much  less  expensive.  The  reason  for 
this  latter  is  because  the  dresses  of  the  actors  are  much 
more  simple  than  those  in  the  historical  plays,  where  the 
robes  of  mandarins  and  statesmen  that  appear  on  the 
stage  are  exceedingly  costly. 

With  regard  to  the  scenery,  it  is  the  same  in  both 
sets  of  plays,  for  in  both  cases  it  is  left  entirely  to 
the  imagination  of  the  audience.  As  the  plays  are 
almost  always  acted  in  the  open  air  it  is,  of  course, 
impossible  to  add  to  the  effect  of  the  stage  by  any 
ingenuity  of  the  painter's  art.  The  Chinese,  however, 
who  is  by  no  means  wanting  in  the  artistic  faculty, 
knows  well  how  to  take  advantage  of  the  exquisite 
combinations  that  Nature  with  her  cunning  hand  so 
often  works  out  as  though  she  had  made  them  for  his 
particular   benefit.      The   leader   of   the   troupe   comes 

*  "  Barbarian  "  is  the  generic  term  that  is  given  to  all  foreigners, 
whether  from  the  Far  West  or  from  the  countries  bordering  upon 
China.  "  Foreign  devil,"  "  red-haired  devil "  are  merely  local  variations 
that  people  of  different  districts  playfully  apply  to  foreigners  of  any 
nationality.    They  are  all  terms  of  reproach. 


208    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

along  with  his  hand  to  select  a  spot  where  they  shall 
have  their  performance.  They  are  as  dilapidated - 
looking  a  company  as  ever  met  to  thrill  an  audience 
with  thoughts  of  noble  deeds,  or  to  melt  it  into  tears 
with  some  pathetic  story  of  human  suffering.  Vice 
sits  upon  the  countenance  of  every  man  amongst  them, 
and  pale  cheeks,  bloodless  lips,  and  leaden -hued  eyes 
tell  of  long  hours  in  the  opium-den,  and  the  miser- 
able, wretched  feelings  that  follow  the  brief  Elysium 
where  they  drowned  the  thoughts  of  life  in  the  gor- 
geous visions  that  fled  with  the  morning  light.  What 
can  these  men  know  of  art  and  lights  and  shadows  and 
the  mysterious  movements  of  Nature  that  will  set  off  j 
their  acting  by  and  by  better  than  the  inspired  genius 
of  the  most  famous  painters  could  ever  do?  One  looks 
at  the  place  where  the  stage  is  expected  to  be  set  up, 
and  with  an  instinct  that  never  fails,  he  chooses  the  very 
spot  where  the  sun  can  best  play  the  artist,  and  where  | 
he  can  flash  his  rays  and  throw  in  his  tints  to  cover 
somewhat  the  defects  of  the  players. 

When  it  is  possible,  a  large  tree  is  selected  ;  the 
older  and  more  venerable  it  is  the  better  ;  for  the 
background  it  affords,  whilst  it  is  grand  and  imposing, 
is  an  ever  changing  one.  At  one  moment  it  is  filled 
with  shadows  that  give  it  a  stern  and  severe  look  ;  at  | 
another  the  golden  rays  flash  and  play  amongst  the 
great  boughs  and  give  it  a  summer  look  ;  and  anon 
a  flood  of  light  comes  in  a  great  wave'  and  touches  the 
leaves  with  such  a  sudden  access  of  beauty  that  they 
tremble  with  excitement  and  seem  a  fitting  accompani- 
ment to  the  sounds  of  cymbals  and  the  passionate  voices 
of  the  actors  as  they  play  their  parts  below.  The  day 
goes  on,  the  plot  thickens,  and  the  excitement  of  the 
audience  grows  as  the  hero  makes  his  marvellous  j 
escapes  from  the  machinations  of  his  enemies,  and  I 
every  other  interest  is  forgotten  in  the  absorbing  one 
of  seeing  how  the  villain  will  at  last  be  discovered 
and  punished.  All  this  while  the  tree,  as  if  conscious 
of  the  part  it  has  to  play  in  the  denouement  of  the 
plot,  silently  but  with  an  eloquence  that  no  language 
could  imitate,  has  added  to  the  zest  of  the  piece.  The 
gentle  sound  of  the  breeze  blowing  through  the 
branches,  the  sudden  lighting  up  pf  smiles  amongst  its 


A   MORNING   SHAVE. 


^*  m  '    ^\J^  ^  ^T  L^ 


^^^^i^^ 


A   THEATRE   ON   THE   ROAD-SIDE. 


To  face  p.  208. 


PLAYS  AND  PLAY-ACTOES  209 

leaves,  and  their  dying  out  in  sadness  that  quenches 
the  sunHght  out  of  their  eyes,  seem  like  unspoken  words 
that  add  a  vividness  and  a  mystery  to  those  of  the 
actors  that  would  otherwise  seem  tame  and  ineffective 
without  them. 

But  it  is  not  always  that  so  picturesque  a  spot  can 
be  obtained  for  the  acting  of  the  play.  These  Bohemian 
play-actors  have  to  be  prepared  to  erect  their  stage  in 
front  of  the  house  of  their  patron,  however  unsuitable 
the  place  may  be  from  an  aesthetic  or  an  acoustic  point 
of  view.  It  very  often  happens  that  his  home  may 
be  in  a  densely  crowded  street,  where  the  only  back- 
ground consists  of  faded,  broken -down -looking  houses, 
and  the  only  suggestions  to  high  art  are  dirt  and  filth 
and  smells  s.o  atrocious  that  they  could  easily  knock 
,off  the  head  of  an  English  donkey.  These  exercise  no 
depressing  effect  whatever  on  these  men,  true  descend- 
ants .of  the  founders  of  the  Thespian  art.  Place  and 
surroundings  seem  to  be  utterly  indifferent  to  them.  It 
is  men  they  want,  and  the  sympathy  of  crowds,  and 
the  subtle  influence  of  an  audience  that  has  been  set  on 
fire  by  their  eloquence,  and  whose  hearts  can  be  easily 
moved  to  laughter  or  to  tears. 

An  English  troupe  of  the  present  day  would  be  utterly 
Lost  were  they  set  down  to  meet  the  conditions  that 
are  the  only  ones  that  the  great  race  of  actors  through- 
out this  empire  are  acquainted  with.  Just  imagine  a 
swell  London  company  who  were  assembled  ready  to 
perform  some  popular  play.  Nothing  has  been 
prepared  for  the  great  performance.  There  is  no 
theatre  and  n<o  magnificent  scenery  which  first-rate 
artists  have  painted  to  'give  the  highest  effects  to  the 
efforts  of  the  actors.  There  is  no  place  where 
rehearsals  may  take  place,  and  no  retiring-rooms, 
where  each  one  may  dress  himself  for  the  part  he  is  to 
take  when  he  steps  on  to  the  stage  before  the  crowds 
that  are  awaiting  his  coming.  The  troupe  would  meet 
by  common  consent,  say  in  the  Strand  or  in  the  most 
crowded  part  of  Oxford  Street,  where  they  would  at 
once  proceed  to  put  up  their  stage.  All  traffic  would 
have  to  be  suspended.  The  drivers  of  omnibuses  and 
of  hansom-cabs,  scenting  the  obstruction  from  afar, 
wojuld  quietly  and  without  the  least  show  of  temper  turn 

U 


210    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

their  horses  down  the  nearest  by-street  ;  whilst  the 
fares,  when  they  heard  the  reason,  would  smile  and 
express  themselves  perfectly  satisfied  at  their  conduct. 
Great  lumbering  carts  and  drays,  unconscious  of  the 
stoppage,  would  come  up  to  the  edge  of  the  crowd  that 
had  gathered  round  the  troupe,  to  see  Sir  Henry  Irving, 
for  example,  superintending  the  placing  of  the  boards 
in  their  proper  position.  A  delightful  smile  that  they 
never  showed  even  to  their  wives  would  immediately 
suffuse  their  faces,  and  they  would  back  away  to  the 
nearest  side  road,  which  would  necessitate  an  extra 
journey  of,  perhaps,  half  a  mile  or  more.  Pedestrians, 
too,  would  come  up  and  would  crane  their  necks  and 
peer  over  the  heads  of  the  people  to  find  out  the  cause 
of  the  obstruction  and  then  retire  with  an  amused 
look  on  their  faces.  Others  in  a  hurry  to  catch  a  train 
would  wriggle  through  the  crowd  and  crouch  and 
scramble  under  the  stage,  where  they  would  bump  their 
heads  against  projecting  beams — without,  however, 
affecting  their  tempers  in  the  least. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  members  of  the  troupe  are 
preparing  themselves  for  the  performance.  The  play 
is  a  comedy,  perhaps,  and  each  one  is  dressing  for  his 
part.  Here  is  one  painting  her  eyebrows  and  touch- 
ing her  lips  with  delicate  shades  of  carmine.  Another 
is  doing  up  her  long  luxurious  hair  into  a  wonderful 
coiffure,  whilst  her  neighbour  is  adorning  herself  in 
a  rich  dress  that  shows  off  her  beauty  to  perfection. 
The  men,  less  picturesque  in  appearance,  are  donning 
the  garments  in  which  they  are  to  appear,  with  a  non- 
chalance and  an  ease  that  show  that  they  are  perfectly 
impervious  to  the  opinion  of  the  crowd  that  is  looking 
on  with  wonder  in  its  eyes. 

The  above  is  an  exact  picture  of  what  takes  place 
in  China,  outside  of  the  great  ports  where  the  in- 
fluence of  foreigners  has  tended  to  modify  the  native 
customs.  The  stage  is  erected  in  the  very  midst  of  the 
most  populous  thoroughfare  and  all  traffic  is  absolutely 
suspended.  The  actors  do  their  dressing  in  public,  and 
the  men  that  are  to  take  the  part  of  women  paint 
their  faces  and  do  up  their  hair  in  the  elaborate 
fashion  in  which  ladies  are  accustomed  to  in  this  land. 
Everything  is  done,  as  it  were,  on  the  street,  and  good- 


PLAYS  AND  PLAY-ACTORS  211 

humour  and  infinite  forbearance  are  the  characteristics 
that  mark  the  conduct  of  the  populace  in  reference  to 
what  would  seem  to  us  to  be  the  high-handed  pro- 
ceedings of  the  play-acting  fraternity.  Comedy,  on 
the  whole,  suits  the  genius  of  the  Chinese  better  than 
the  more  serious  plays.  They  are  a  laughter-loving 
people,  and  their  faces  have  been  so  formed  that,  un- 
aesthetic  as  they  are,  they  have  a  wide  area  on  which 
to  spread  a  smile.  There  is  a  strain  of  fun  that  runs 
through  their  natures  that  makes  them  quick  to  catch 
the  slightest  hint  of  a  joke,  and  that  sends  the  laughter 
rippling  from  their  hearts  and  lighting  up  their  features 
with  floods  of  sunshine.  The  number  of  these  comedies 
is  legion,  and  in  order  to  give  the  reader  some  idea  of 
what  they  are  like,  I  will  select  one  and  give  a  brief 
account  of  it.  It  is  called  *'  Sir  Serious."  The  hero 
of  the  story  is  a  famous  Taoist  doctor,  renowned  for 
his  learning  and  for  his  power  over  spirits.  He  is 
not  only  a  scholar  of  the  first  order,  but  he  has  also  so 
entered  into  the  secret  of  Nature  that  he  can  at  pleasure 
transform  himself  into  any  shape  he  pleases,  and  by 
his  magic  he  can  perform  the  most  wonderful  miracles. 
Demons  and  fairies  are  at  his  beck,  and  storm  and 
tempest  are  forces  obedient  to  his  will. 

One  morning,  taking  a  walk  into  the  country,  he 
observed  a  young  woman  standing  by  a  grave  and,  with 
tears  streaming  down  her  face,  slowly  and  gracefully 
fanning  it.  Struck  by  this  sight,  he  approached  her  and 
asked  her  what  she  was  doing.  She  explained  that  her 
husband  had  recently  died  and  before  his  death  he  had 
made  her  promise  that  she  would  not  marry  again 
before  the  plaster  on  his  grave  had  time  to  dry.  '*  I 
am  anxious  to  keep  my  promise,"  she  said,  **  but  as  I 
am  very  poor  and  have  no  means  of  support,  I  am, 
helping  the  tomb  to  get  dry  in  order  to  be  able  to 
marry  again  as  quickly  as  possible." 

When  Sir  Serious  returned  home  he  told  his  wife, 
who  was  a  famous  beauty,  what  he  had  seen,  and 
remarked  that  he  thought  it  very  noble  of  the  widow 
for  being  so  faithful  in  keeping  the  promise  she  had 
made  to  her  dying  husband.  "  Noble,  do  you  call 
her?  "  she  asked,  with  a  contemptuous  toss  of  her 
beautiful  head.     **  I  call  her  disgusting.     The  idea  of 


212    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

her  being  in  such  a  hurry  to  get  married  again  that  she 
actually  fans  her  husband's  grave  to  cause  it  to  dry 
more  quickly  I  She  has  no  decency  and  no  shame  I 
Now,  if  it  were  my  case  I  should  never  dream  of  ever 
getting  married  again.  I  should  remain  faithful  to  you 
as  long  as  I  lived." 

Sir  Serious  pondered  over  this  statement  of  his  wife 
and  he  determined  that  he  would  put  it  to  the  test. 
In  the  course  of  a  few  days,  without  any  apparent 
reason,  he  suddenly  died,  to  the  great  grief  and  con- 
sternation of  his  wife.  Next  day,  whilst  she  was  in 
the  midst  of  her  sorrow,  a  visitor  to  her  late  husband 
was  announced.  He  was  a  young  man  of  unusually  pre- 
possessing appearance,  who  had  been  attracted,  so  he 
said,  by  the  fame  of  Sir  Serious  and  had  come  to  sit 
at  the  feet  of  so  distinguished  a  savant.  He  appeared 
to  be  profoundly  moved  when  he  heard  that  he  was 
dead,  and  he  spoke  with  such  exquisite  feeling  and 
condoled  with  the  widow  in  such  chaste  and  appropriate 
language  that  her  heart  was  greatly  comforted  by  what 
he  said. 

The  handsome  young  scholar,  having  come  from  a 
long  distance,  had  no  place  where  he  could  stay,  so  the 
widow,  after  consultation  with  an  old  servant  of  the 
family,  invited  him  to  take  up  his  quarters  in  her  home. 
The  result  of  a  few  days'  further  acquaintance  was  that 
they  both  fell  violently  in  love  with  each  other  and 
after  serious  love-making  they  agreed  to  get  married 
without  further  delay. 

The  marriage  feast  was  prepared  and  sounds  of 
laughter  and  revelry  filled  the  house  and  eyes  full  of 
happiness  sparkled  with  delight,  when  suddenly,  like  a 
flash  of  lightning  from  an  unclouded  sky,  the  handsome 
bridegroom  fell  to  the  ground  as  though  he  were  dead. 
Every  effort  was  made  to  revive  him,  but  he  could  not 
be  awakened  out  of  his  deadly  trance.  His  face  was 
deathlike  and  his  breathing  had  entirely  ceased.  The 
newly -made  bride  summoned  her  retainer  and  asked 
what  he  would  advise  should  be  done  in  this  alarming 
case.  After  a  long  look  at  the  insensible  form  of  the 
young  scholar,  he  said  :  "  The  disease  to  which  this 
man  has  succumbed  is  a  very  unusual  one.  I  have, 
however,  met  with  a  similar  case  before^,  and  I  was 


PLAYS  AND  PLAY-ACTORS  213 

told  that  the  only  cure  for  it  was  that  a  man's  heart 
should  be  obtained  and  the  fluid  from  it  be  given, 
when  a  perfect  recovery  would  be  the  result.  I  would 
suggest,"  he  continued,  "  the  master's  coffin  that  lies 
in  the  next  room  should  be  opened  and  his  heart  taken 
out  to  save  the  man  who  is  in  such  a  dangerous 
condition.  It  seems  dreadful,'*  he  said,  "to  suggest 
such  a  thing,  but  Sir  Serious  is  dead  and  it  will  not 
harm  him  to  be  opened  and  have  his  heart  extracted. 
If  we  do  not  adopt  this  plan  I  do  not  see  any  way  by 
which  we  can  get  a  heart  anywhere  else,  and  so  the 
youth  will  perish  and  you  will  lose  a  husband  a  second 
time.'* 

The  widow,  who  was  madly  in  love,  at  once  without 
any  hesitation  consented  to  the  proposal.  Seizing  an 
axe,  she  proceeded  to  the  room'  where  the  coffin  lay 
and  in  a  few  seconds  she  had  forced  the  lid  open.  No 
sooner  had  she  done  this  than  the  dead  man  sneezed  and 
yawned  and,  raising  his  head,  he  said  :  "  Dear  me,  I  must 
have  been  asleep  quite  a  long  while.  It  must  be  time 
for  me  to  get  up."  His  wife,  horrified  beyond  measure, 
rushed  back  into  the  next  room,  but  she  found  the  visitor 
had  vanished  and  not  a  trace  of  him  could  be  found 
anywhere.  It  was  not  possible,  indeed,  that  she  could 
do  so,  seeing  that  Sir  Serious  had  used  his  witchery  and 
had  transformed  himself  into  the  appearance  of  a  young 
man  in  order  to  test  his  wife  and  to  see  whether  she 
would  remain  true  to  him  as  she  had  declared  she  would. 

The  wife  was  so  ashamed  when  she  found  that  her 
husband  had  come  to  life  again  that  she  went  and  com- 
mitted suicide.  Sir  Serious  decided,  after  this  painful 
experience,  never  to  get  married  again,  and  in  order 
to  comfort  men  who  had  lost  their  wives  he  comjDosed 
a  short  ode  that  has  become  famous,  through  these 
theatricals,  all  over  the  land.  His  words  briefly  are  : 
"Do  not  mourn  because  your  wife  has  died  before  you, 
for  think  what  might  happen  should  you  die  first.  Your 
wife  that  you  took  such  pride  in  would  belong  to 
another.  Your  children  that  called  you  father  and  on 
whom  you  lavished  your  affection  would  be  beaten  and 
ill-used  by  a  man  who  would  take  your  place.  Your 
home  and  your  lands  would  pass  into  the  possession  of 
a  naan  who  would  hate  your  very  memory  and  who 


214  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

could  not  bear  to  hear  your  name  mentioned  without  3 
frown.  Your  wife  dies  and  you  lose  but  her.  Every- 
thing else  is  yours  and  no  man  may  rob  you  of  it.; 
Therefore  be  of  good  cheer  and  remain  as  you  are. 
Let  well  alone  and  be  thankful  that  it  is  your  wife  and 
not  yourself  that  has  died  first." 

The  acting  of  this  piece  affords  unbounded  amuse- 
ment to  any  audience  that  witnesses  it.  The  fanning 
of  the  grave,  the  sudden  resurrection  of  Sir  Serious, 
the  consternation  of  the  wife  when  she  discovers  that 
her  lover  has  vanished,  are  all  presented  in  such  a 
ludicrous  manner  that  the  attention  of  the  spectators  is 
riveted  upon  the  play  as  long  as  it  lasts. 

Play-actors  in  China  have  a  hard  life^  but  this  is 
not  entirely  the  fault  of  the  public.  Their  dissolute 
habits  are  the  real  cause.  On  the  stage  the  crowd  sits 
in  rapture  at  their  feet.  At  one  time  they  are  in  tears 
and  by  and  by  in  fits  of  laughter  as  these  men  with 
their  great  talent  for  mimicry  and  with  their  powers 
of  pathos  touch  the  hearts  of  their  audience.  When  the 
play  is  ended  the  charm  has  fled  and  the  actor  is  once 
more  the  miserable  character  that  his  vices  and  his 
profession  have  inade  him.  In  consequence  of  the  easy- 
going nature  of  the  Chinese  and  their  disregard  for 
appearances  he  seems  to  take  no  care  to  preserve  his 
dignity,  for  after  the  performance  is  over  he  descends 
from  the  stage  and  there,  in  the  presence  of  the  public, 
he  disrobes  himself  of  his  magnificent  dresses  that  have 
made  him  look  like  some  famous  hero  or  heroine  and 
at  once  he  becomes  the  meanest -looking  man  in  all  the 
crowd. 

Here,  for  example,  is  a  man  who  has  been  playing  the 
character  of  a  beautiful  woman.  She  is  letting  down 
her  long  hair  and  taking  off  her  silks  and  satins,  and 
one  by  one  removing  her  trinkets  and  her  female  orna- 
ments. She  then  unbinds  her  feet  and  rubs  the  powder 
from  her  face  and  the  rouge  from  her  lips,  and  lo  !  the 
heroine  that  has  captivated  all  hearts  by  her  grace  and 
beauty  is  transformed  into  as  vulgar -looking  a  ruffian 
as  one  would  dislike  to  meet  in  the  small  hours  of  the 
night  in  some  dark  and  lonely  road.  Close  beside  him 
is  another  who  has  been  acting  the  part  of  a  great 
mandarin.      In  his  official  dress  and  with  his  haughty 


PLAYACTORS  ACTING. 


To  face  p.  214 


PLAYS  AND  PLAY-ACTORS  215 

mien  he  was  the  object  of  profound  respect,  but  now 
that  he  has  taken  off  his  gorgeous  dresses  in  which 
he  was  performing  his  part,  the  charm  and  the  dignity 
that  these  gave  him  have  vanished  and  instead  you 
have  as  commonplace  and  disreputable  a  man  as  you 
could  pick  out  of  the  seedy-looking  characters  that 
aboimd  in  heathen  life. 

The  end  of  these  men  is  generally  a  very  sad  and  a 
very  miserable  one.  The  opium  habit  which  they  have 
contracted  is  a  deteriorating  influence  that  strikes  at 
the  root  of  everything  that  is  good  or  noble  in  life. 
It  weakens  the  moral  character  and  it  makes  a  man  so 
intensely  selfish  that  he  is  prepared  to  ignore  every 
human  tie  in  his  mad  craving  for  the  drug.  At  the  best 
of  times  actors  never  dream  of  saving  money,  and  as 
their  powers  of  acting  begin  to  fail,  their  earnings  are 
seriously  affected,  but  the  pains  and  aches  that  the 
opium  flashes  through  the  body  when  the  hour  comes 
for  it  to  be  indulged  in  do  not  diminish  with  the  waning 
income.  By  and  by  they  drift  lower,  still  pursued  by 
the  intolerable  craving  that  never  for  a  single  day 
deserts  them.  Many  of  them  become  beggars  or  street 
musicians,  and  thus  men  who  used  to  personate  emperors 
and  royal  personages  and  famous  heroes,  and  who  used 
to  hold  the  crowds  spellbound,  descend  to  the  low 
position  of  sitting  by  the  roadside  and  in  piteous,  whin- 
ing tones  imploring  the  passer-by  to  throw  them  a 
cash  to  keep  them  from  starving. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

A  RAMBLE  THROUGH  A  CHINESE   CITY 

A  Chinese  city  gives  one  the  impression  that  it  was 
the  last  thing  built,  and  there  was  so  little  room  left 
for  it  that  it  had  to  be  squeezed  into  the  narrowest 
limits  possible.  Its  main  streets,  where  the  largest 
traffic  is  to  be  found,  are  not  usually  more  than  ten  or 
twelve  feet  wide  and  these  are  actually  reduced  to  four 
or  five  by  the  tables  and  benches  that  the  shopkeepers 
put  on  each  side,  on  which  they  display  their  stock-in- 
trade. 

The  smaller  streets  are,  of  course,  narrower,  whilst  the 
alleyways  dwindle  down  to  three  or  four  feet.  The  houses 
are  crowded  together,  and  in  order  to  meet  the  demands 
of  the  population  each  one  is  so  built  that  it  will 
accommodate  several  famihes  if  need  be,  and  even  then 
the  dwellings  are  by  no  means  large.  A  Chinese,  how- 
ever, is  capable  of  being  squeezed  into  as  limited  a 
space  as  any  other  human  being  in  the  world,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  have  an  air  of  freedom,  as  though  he 
were  living  in  a  suite  of  rooms  that  he  occupied  entirely 
for  his  own  use. 

A  foreigner,  taking  a  ramble  through  a  Chinese  town, 
is  greatly  impressed  with  the  fact  that  the  people  have 
no  private  family  life — in  our  sense  of  the  term.  The 
shops  have  no  windows,  and  as  soon  as  the  shutters  are 
taken  down  in  the  morning  the  whole  of  the  interior  is 
open  for  the  inspection  of  the  public,  who  are  privileged 
to  see  and  to  listen  to  all  that  is  going  on  inside.  No- 
body seems  to  mind  that.  The  conversation  of  the 
family  or  the  loud  cheapening  of  the  goods  are  all  con- 
ducted as  though  there  was  nobody  within  a  hundred 

miles  of  them,     It  seenpis,  indeed,  as  though  the  whole 

m 


A  RAMBLE  THROUGH  A  CHINESE  CITY     217 

bvisiness  of  the  place  was  carried  on  in  the  streets,  and 
the  affairs  of  everybody  were  common  property. 

A  Chinese  town  has,  on  the  whole,  a  mean,  tumble- 
down-looking appearance.  Even  in  the  finest  streets, 
where  the  commercial  wealth  of  the  place  is  centred,  the 
shops  are  totally  deficient  in  any  architectural  attrac- 
tions. Whatever  ability  the  Chinese  may  possess,  it 
certainly  does  not  lie  in  the  direction  of  city -building. 
The  modern  builders  seem  to  be  under  the  grip  of 
the  dead  hand  of  their  ancestors.  A  new  street,  for 
example,  is  to  be  built.  Designs  are  never  asked  for, 
and  architects  are  never  appealed  to,  because  no  such 
profession  exists  in  this  land.  Plans  that  were  drawn 
up  when  the  world  was  young  are  ready  to  hand  all 
around,  and  are  so  stereotyped  on  the  brain  of  every 
builder  in  the  land,  that  no  room  is  left  to  them  for 
invention.  A  street  is  burned  down,  and  in  a  few  days 
a  hive  of  workmen  is  as  busy  as  a  colony  of  ants 
rebuilding.  No  alterations  are  made  ;  the  same  kind 
and  size  of  beams  are  laid  ;  the  same  angles  and 
comers  spring  up  with  an  amazing  fidelity  to  those 
that  have  vanished  in  the  fire.  With  a  beaver -like 
monotony,  shops  and  houses  are  reproduced  age  after 
age  after  an  identical  pattern,  and,  consequently, 
a  description  of  any  particular  town  or  district 
would  stand  as  a  model  for  all  the  others  in  the 
empire. 

The  narrow,  crooked  streets,  the  unsubstantial  one- 
storied  buildings,  the  badly  paved  roads,  the  poverty- 
stricken  aspect  of  the  poorer  quarters,  and  the  preva- 
lence of  the  most  horrible  and  disgusting  smells, 
amongst  the  rich  and  the  poor  alike,  are  the  features 
that  most  impress  themselves  upon  the  mind  of  the 
stranger,  as  he  perambulates  around  in  search  of 
novelty. 

But  let  us  begin  our  stroll.  Following  the  crowds 
that  flow  like  a  stream  down  the  narrow  arteries,  we 
by  and  by  come  to  an  opening  that  leads  into  a  square 
where  a  variety  of  life  presents  itself  to  our  view.  The 
whole  of  one  side  of  it  is  occupied  by  a  temple  dedicated 
to  the  Goddess  of  Mercy.  It  shows  how  strong  is  the 
religious  feeling  of  this  particular  district  that  the 
owners  of  property  in  this  crowded  bu3iness  part,  where 


218    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

the  value  of  land  must  run  high,  should  have  been 
willmg  to  surrender  so  large  a  space  for  the  building  of 
this  temple.  It  is  a  very  good  specimen  of  the  better 
class  of  shrines  where  the  idols  are  worshipped.  The 
goddess  with  her  placid-looking  face  is  placed  right  in 
the  centre,  where  she  can  look  out  through  the  great 
open  door  upon  the  changing  scenes  of  human  life  that 
move  the  livelong  day  before  her.  She  is  the  most 
popular  idol  in  China,  and  is  worshipped  by  more  people 
than  any  other  throughout  the  empire.  It  is  simply  the 
belief  in  her  goodness  and  pity  that  has  led  to  this,  for 
she  is  not  a  native  goddess.  Her  home  originally  was 
in  far-off  India,  and  the  story  goes  that  she  was  the 
daughter  of  a  king,  and  she  was  so  touched  by  the 
miseries  of  the  women  who  lived  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  her  father's  palace,  that  she  made  a  solemn  vow  that 
she  would  never  get  married,  but  would  dedicate  her 
life  to  the  service  of  her  own  sex.  This  she  did,  and 
when  she  died  she  was  deified  and  her  worship  became 
a  widespread  one.  The  story  of  her  devotion  travelled 
over  the  Himalayas  and  across  Turkestan  into  the  fertile 
provinces  of  the  north  of  China,  and  men  were  so 
touched  with  her  self-denial  that  they  said,  *'  We  must 
have  her  as  our  goddess  too,"  and  so,  to-day,  there  is 
hardly  a  home  amongst  the  four  hundred  millions  of 
China  that  has  not  an  image  of  this  famous  idol. 

The  open  space  in  front  of  the  temple  is  very  largely 
occupied  by  itinerant  dealers  in  various  kinds  of  articles, 
who  dot  the  square  with  their  stalls,  and  with  the  free- 
and-easy  way  with  which  such  men  take  liberties  with 
the  public  roads,  leave  but  scant  space  for  the  crowds 
that  pass  to  and  fro.  Here  is  a  seller  of  sweets,  with  a 
knot  of  little  urchins  crouching  down  around  his  basket, 
who,  with  glistening  eyes  and  mouths  that  water  are 
gazing  upon  the  good  things  so  temptingly  displayed 
before  them.  Candied  arbutus  and  Tientsin  apples 
drowned  in  sugar,  and  peanuts  fried  in  fat  to  a  delicate 
brown,  and  square  pieces  of  juicy-looking  toffee,  that 
make  the  mouth  water  to  look  at,  can  be  bought  at  an 
amazingly  low  price.  As  far  as  sweets  are  concerned, 
China  is  a  perfect  fairyland  for  children,  for  what  with 
peanut  candy,  juicy  sugar-cane,  candied  fruit,  and  a 
host  of  unnameable  products  of  the  confectioner's  art, 


A  RAMBLE  THROUGH  A  CHINESE  CITY      219 

they  have  a  large  and  varied  assortment  of  delights  from 
which  they  may  at  any  time  solace  themselves  at  an 
infinitesimal  cost. 

A  few  feet  away  from  the  seller  of  sweets  is  a  fruit 
stand,  where  bananas  from  Canton,  luscious -looking 
pineapples  cut  in  delicate  slices  so  as  to  tempt  the 
thirsty,  water-melons  with  black  skins  and  crimson 
hearts,  and  mangoes  with  their  green  coats  just  turning 
yellow,  the  reflection  of  the  ripe,  golden  fruit  within, 
are  daintily  arranged  to  bewitch  the  passer-by  and  draw 
the  cash  out  of  his  pocket. 

Farther  on  is  a  man  sitting  on  a:  stool  in  front  of  a 
low,  round  table,  on  which  a  solitary  white  glazed  bowl 
is  placed.  A  number  of  men  are  grouped  around  it, 
sitting  on  their  heels,  and  watching  with  the  fiercest 
gaze  the  man  in  charge  throwing  three  or  four  dice 
into  the  basin.  They  are  gamblers,  as  one  can  see  at 
a  glance,  for  their  dull,  heavy  faces  throb  with  passion, 
and  their  black  eyes  gleam  with  ill-suppressed  emotion. 
They  are  watching  the  dice  as  they  fall,  and  with  a 
glance  as  quick  as  lightning  counting  the  spots  upon 
their  upturned  faces.  The  game  is  a  most  absorbing 
one.  The  dice  are  thrown  as  rapidly  as  the  man  can 
fling  them  into  the  dish,  and  the  gamblers  are  kept  in  a 
constant  state  of  watching  the  numbers  that  turn  up. 
The  crouching  group  do  not  utter  a  sound,  whilst  the 
face  of  the  operator  is  as  calm  and  as  stolid-looking 
as  that  of  an  Egyptian  sphinx,  and  as  expressionless 
as  the  features  of  the  stone  lions  that  guard  the  gates 
of  the  temple  close  by.  His  own  pile  is  gradually  grow- 
ing, but  neither  he  nor  the  silent  figures  in  front  of  him 
give  any  sign  that  the  varying  fortunes  of  the  game 
have  quickened  their  pulses  by  a  single  beat. 

Just  beyond  this  group  is  an  itinerant  barber  with 
the  implements  of  his  craft  by  his  side.  One  of  these 
is  a  diminutive  bench  with  a  nest  of  drawers  built 
under  it,  which  contain  his  razors,  strops,  hones,  &c. 
Close  by  is  another  article  that  plays  an  important  part 
in  the  business  of  the  barber.  This  is  a  small 
stand  for  holding  a  brass  basin  filled  with  water,  and 
immediately  underneath  is  a  little  furnace,  where  a 
charcoal  fire  is  kept  just  alive,  so  that  it  can  be  fanned 
into  a  red  heat  should  its  services  be  required.     With 


220    MEN  AND  MANNEKS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

the  patience  of  his  race  he  is  waiting  as  calmly  for 
the  coming  of  a  customer  as  though  he  were  a  nian  of 
assured  income,  quite  independent  of  the  public.  From 
his  easy  manner,  and  calm,  unruffled  face,  one  would 
never  dream  that  he  was  close  up  to  the  margin  of  his 
resources,  and  that  but  one  step  ahead  would  land  him 
in  debt. 

Whilst  we  are  standing  looking  at  him  and  his 
interesting  apparatus,  a  customer  makes  his  appear- 
ance and  without  a  word  takes  his  place  upon  the  narrow 
bench.  The  barber,  as  silent  as  the  other,  gets  his 
razor  out  of  one  of  the  drawers,  and  with  an  old,  broken 
fan  brings  back  to  life  the  smouldering  embers  in  the 
furnace.  The  razor  is  a  most  primitive  one,  consisting 
of  a  piece  of  iron,  rough-hewn,  with  an  edge  that  is 
kept  sharp  only  by  constant  applications  to  a  diminu- 
tive hone.  It  does  not  cost  more  than  twopence,  and  it 
seems  utterly  inadequate  for  the  serious  work  before 
it,  in  the  mass  of  stubbles  that  stand  up  with  an  angry, 
defiant  air  from  the  head  of  the  man  who  sits  so 
unconcernedly  waiting  for  the  barber  to  commence  his 
operations.  A  minute  or  two  pass  by  in  stropping 
the  razor,  and  by  the  time  it  has  got  the  required  edge 
a  little  mist  of  steam  begins  to  rise  from  the  surface 
of  the  water  in  the  brass  bowl.  The  process  of  shaving 
can  now  begin  in  earnest,  and  so  the  barber  takes  a  cloth 
and  dips  it  into  the  now  boiling  water.  Wringing  it 
slightly  out,  he  rubs  it  gently  and  insinuatingly  over 
every  part  of  the  head,  excepting  the  crown,  which  is 
held  sacred  from  the  touch  of  the  razor.  This  process  is 
repeated  several  times,  till  the  rebellious  growth  has 
lost  its  stubbornness,  and  with  weak  and  trembling 
knees  it  appears  ready  to  submit  to  its  fate.  The  barber 
now  rapidly  seizes  the  razor,  and  after  a  few  hasty 
sweeps  on  a  small  strop  in  the  palm  of  his  hand,  with  a 
graceful  motion  he  begins  his  work.  To  our  amaze- 
ment the  black  forest  falls  as  naturally  as  the  ripe 
grain  before  the  onward  march  of  the  scythe.  No  soap 
of  any  kind  has  been  used,  and  yet  the  simple  applica- 
tion of  a  very  hot,  damp  cloth  has  been  sufficient  to 
enable  the  operator  to  go  on  with  his  shaving  till  the 
whole  space  around  the  crown  has  been  relieved  of  its 
stubby  growth,  and  the  white  skin  of  the  newly-mown 


A  RAMBLE  THROUGH  A  CHINESE  CITY     221 

parts  and  the  black,  raven  hair  of  the  crown  stand 
out  in  striking  contrast  with  each  other. 

Shaving  is  a  much  more  elaborate  business  in  China 
than  it  is  with  us,  for  though  there  is  no  hair  on  the 
face  to  occupy  the  barber's  time,  the  eyes  and  ears  come 
within  the  range  of  his  art,  and  demand  even  nicer 
and  more  artistic  treatment  than  the  head.  It  makes 
one  tremble  to  see  how  he  plays  amongst  the  eyelashes, 
trimming  them  here  and  there,  and  turning  down  the 
eyelids  and  letting  the  sharp  razor  meander  along  the 
inside  of  them.  What  good  can  be  effected  by  this 
mysterious  proceeding  we  cannot  possible  conceive.  It 
is  the  custom  of  the  trade  and  must  be  obeyed  even 
though  it  may  bring  inflamed  eyes  and  possibly  loss  of 
sight.  Rather  perish  the  eyes  of  the  whole  nation 
than  that  a  sacred  relic  of  the  past,  started  by  some 
idiotic  barber  in  ancient  times,  who  had  not  the  sense 
to  know  what  he  was  doing,  should  be  lost  to  the 
country.  And  now  the  operation  has  been  performed 
and  head  and  ears  have  all  come  within  the  touch  of 
those  gentle,  deft  hands  of  the  barber.  With  a  final 
massage  on  the  spine  and  the  queue  neatly  replaited, 
the  customer  rises  and  drops  into  the  hands  of  the 
operator,  as  though  it  were  a  matter  of  no  importance, 
the  imposing  sum  of  cash  that  in  our  money  would  be 
equivalent   to   about  a   penny. 

But  what  is  the  crowd  that  is  gathered  immediately 
in  front  of  the  entrance  to  the  temple  where,  in  a 
dim  religious  light,  sits  the  goddess  looking  out  on  the 
busy  scene  before  her?  As  we  draw  near  to  the  edge 
of  it,  and  peer  at  the  standing  figures,  we  see  a  man 
sitting  on  a  bench,  with  a  dingy,  dog-eared  book  in 
his  hand,  from  which  he  professes  to  be  reading.  He 
is  doing  this  in  a  slovenly,  slipshod  manner.  He  would 
seem,  indeed,  to  have  a  contempt  for  his  audience,  for 
he  makes  no  attempt  at  oratory.  He  speaks  in  the 
most  matter-of-fact  way.  There  is  no  passion  in  his 
voice,  no  flash  in  his  eye,  no  subtle  touch  of  inspira- 
tion about  him,  and  yet  he  is  holding  his  audience 
spellbound  as  he  dra^wls  out  in  the  unmusical,  mechanical 
Chinese  tones  the  story  he  is  telling. 

He  is  a  sharp,  shrewd-looking  man,  but  of  a  de- 
cidedly worldly  type.      There   is   nothing  spiritual  or 


222    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

visionary  about  his  face.  It  is  a  hard-looking  one,  with 
hnes  that  have  been  engraven  on  it  by  passion  and  evil 
forces  that  have  swept  over  his  heart  and  left  traces  of  | 
the  storm  behind.  That  he  is  dissipated  one  can  see 
at  a  glance,  for  a  leaden  hue,  stamped  there  by  the 
subtle  alchemy  of  opium,  dyes  his  features.  His  eyes 
are  quick  and  restless,  as  though  he  were  on  his  guard 
against  some  secret  foe.  He  is  Bohemian  to  the  very 
tips  of  his  unwashed  finger-nails,  whilst  his  long,  thin 
hands,  as  delicate  as  a  woman's,  thrust  through  the 
wide,  slovenly  sleeves  of  his  dingy  scholar's  gown,  show 
that  he  is  one  of  those  degenerate  students  who  have 
fallen  from  their  high  ideals,  and  is  now  living  as 
best  he  may  by  his  wits.  This  man  is  the  historian  of  I 
the  town,  and  the  romancer  and  the  transmitter  of 
myths  and  fables  of  ancient  days,  a  living  novel  that 
lets  out  a  chapter  of  its  story  each  day  for  the  delight 
of  the  great  unwashed.  Without  such  men  as  this 
history  would  be  untaught,  and  the  heroes  and  statesmen 
of  bygone  centuries  would  long  since  have  been  buried 
in  oblivion.  But  for  this  popular  lecturer  on  the  subject, 
the  knowledge  of  the  past  would  be  lost  to  the  masses, 
whereas  now  the  story  of  the  famous  men  who  have 
built  up  this  empire  is  as  household  words  in  every  | 
family  in  the  land.  ' 

He  is  evidently  popular,  for  the  crowd  is  great  and 
their  attention  is  fixed.  Although  he  holds  a  book  and 
professes  to  be  reading  from  it,  he  evidently  does  not 
confine  himself  to  the  text.  In  the  more  stirring  parts, 
he  allows  his  imagination  to  take  a  flight,  and  in 
graphic,  picturesque  language  pictures  the  hero  he  is 
describing.  This  happens  to  be  Kung  Ming,i  a  famous 
warrior  who  lived  in  the  period  of  the  '*  Three  King- 
doms," and  has  ever  since  been  the  model  of  daring  and 
scientific  fighting,  and  the  ideal  knight,  who  spent  his 
life  in  the  service  of  his  country.  This  story  is  never 
heard  without  warming  the  sluggish  blood  of  this  un- 
warlike  people,  and  causing  the  eyes  of  the  young  i 
fellows  to  flash,  turning  them  for  the  moment  into  j 
impromptu  soldiers,  ready  to  dash  ofT  and  fight  the 
enemies  of  China.    The  Chinese,  hke  all  Orientals,  have 

'  For  an  account  of   this  popular  hero  see  Macgowan's  Imperial 
History  of  China,  Chapter  on  "The  Three  Kingdoms." 


A  EAMBLE  THROUGH  A  CHINESE  CITY      223 

a  passion  for  stories,  and  as  their  memories  are  good 
the  narratives  they  hear  from  these  men  are  never 
forgotten,  but  are  told  again  in  the  home,  v^^hen  some 
one  more  eloquent  than  the  rest  will  while  away  the 
time  by  relating  the  marvellous  adventures  or  doings 
of  men  who  have  been  famous  in  the  past. 

Leaving  this  crowded  square  with  its  busy  typical 
life,  we  again  enter  the  human  stream  that  flows  on 
as  steadily  as  ever,  and  we  pass  by  silk -shops,  where 
the  treasures  of  Canton  and  Soochow  are  stored,  and 
curio -shops,  where  people  of  an  antiquarian  turn  of 
mind  may  have  their  passion  for  old  vases,  ancient  coins, 
and  antique  carving  gratified  to  the  utmost.  Farther  on 
there  are  shoe -shops,  with  shelves  stored  with  all  the 
different  fashions,  and  country  customers,  with  open 
mouths  and  with  the  air  of  the  fields  upon  them, 
beguiled  by  these  Crispins  into  giving  more  for  their 
purchases  than  they  ought  to  do. 

As  we  move  along  we  are  impressed  with  the  easy 
good-nature  of  every  one.  The  street  is  cramped  and 
the  people  so  close  to  each  other  that  it  would  seem 
as  though  they  had  studied  a  conjuring  art  to  know  how 
to  avoid  touching  each  other.  When  it  is  remembered 
that  sedan-chairs  and  heavy  goods  that  take  up  most 
of  the  available  roadway  have  to  travel  along  it,  amongst 
these  crowded  passengers,  the  difference  between  the 
tempers  of  the  East  and  the  West  will  at  once  be 
realised.  The  utmost  good  temper  is  shown  by  every 
one,  and  inconveniences  that  would  ruffle  the  temper 
of  an  Englishman  do  not  raise  the  shadow  of  a  frown 
upon  the  face  of  any  one. 

At  a  turn  in  the  road  we  come  upon  a  man  sitting 
by  a  long,  low  table  on  which  a  variety  of  articles  are 
exhibited.  We  discover  by  his  signboard  that  he  is 
a  doctor,  and  that  he  professes  to  be  qualified  to  deal 
with  any  disease,  internal  or  external,  that  he  may  be 
called  upon  to  treat.  He  does  not  seem  oppressed  with 
the  responsibility  that  this  involves,  for  when  we  ask 
him  if  he  is  really  competent  to  do  all  this,  he  blandly 
smiles  as  though  amused  at  our  simplicity,  and  with 
a  graceful  though  haughty  inclination  of  the  head  he 
assures  us  that  he  is  prepared  to  tackle  any  disease 
under  the  sun  and  to  give  it  at  least  a  heavy  fall. 


224    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

The  appearance  of  the  man  raises  some  doubts  in  our 
mind  regarding  him.  As  to  his  general  intelhgence  we 
have  no  misgiving.  The  mouth  is  firm  set,  indicating 
a  strong  purpose.  His  features  show  that  he  is  a  man 
who  has  been  accustomed  to  think,  whilst  his  eyes  are 
bright  and  flashing,  as  though  hidden  fires  were  sending 
their  sparks  through  them  to  the  outer  world.  Our 
suspicions  are  aroused  by  his  glibness,  that  reminds 
us  more  of  the  quack  than  the  really  able  physician. 
His  clothes,  too,  are  not  such  as  a  man  of  his  distin- 
guished attainment  ought  to  wear.  They  are  greasy- 
looking  and  dilapidated.  The  days  of  their  youth  are 
far  away  in  the  past,  and  patches  here  and  rents  there 
show  the  straits  to  which  they  have  been  put  to  retain 
their  integrity. 

As  we  look  over  the  articles  spread  out  on  the  table 
we  discover  that  he  is  a  dentist  as  well  as  a  doctor. 
We  are  interested,  and  we  look  once  more  at  the  man 
who  professes  so  much.  Right  in  front  of  us  is  a 
small  heap  of  teeth,  not  manufactured  by  any  cunning 
workman,  but  by  the  subtle  alchemy  of  Nature.  They 
are  of  all  sizes  and  conditions.  There  are  huge  molars 
that  have  done  yeoman  service  in  the  past,  and  eye- 
teeth,  strong  and  determined-looking  and  worn,  as 
though  they  had  failed  in  the  battle  of  life,  and  had 
come  here  to  end  their  days.  They  were  all  marked 
and  discoloured  with  the  signs  and  symbols  of  the  wear 
and  tear  they  had  gone  through.  They  were  a  gruesome 
sight  to  look  upon  and  I  wondered  much  how  such  a 
curious  collection  could  have  been  gathered  together. 

"  Where  did  you  get  these  from?  "  I  asked  the 
doctor,  pointing  to  the  heap,  which,  however,  I  was 
careful   not   to   touch. 

**  Ohl  I  bought  them,'*  he  replied,  with  just  a  touch 
of  surprise  on  his  face  that  he  should  be  asked  such  a 
useless  question.  *'  When  a  man  has  to  part  with  a 
tooth,"  he  continued,  *'  he  does  not  throw  it  away.  He 
brings  it  to  me,  and  I  buy  it  for  a  few  cash,  for  he 
knows  that  in  my  profession  it  will  come  in  handy  some 
time  or  other.'* 

Just  as  he  was  speaking  a  patient  came  up  to  him. 
On  being  asked  what  he  wanted,  he  replied  simply  by 
opening  his  mouth  to  the  very  widest  extent.     It  was 


A  RAMBLE  THROUGH  A  CHINESE  CITY     225 

a  huge  cavern  and  reminded  one  of  the  entrance  to  the 
Thames  Tunnel.  It  was  seen  that  his  four  upper  front 
teeth  were  wanting,  having  been  knocked  out  by  a  fall 
from  a  wall,  and  he  was  anxious  to  know  if  the  doctor 
could  supply  their  places  with  new  ones. 

*'  Of  course  I  can,"  he  promptly  replied,  and 
measuring  the  cavity  in  the  jaw,  he  carefully  and  with 
practised  eye  selected  from  the  heap  the  four  teeth 
that  would  exactly  fill  it.  He  then  drilled  a  hole  in 
them  longitudinally  and  inserted  a  bit  of  coarse  iron 
wire  to  bind  them  to  each  other.  The  ends  of  the  wire 
were  next  inserted  in  holes  that  were  carefully  drilled 
into  the  teeth  on  each  side  of  the  cavity,  and  at  once 
the  chasm  disappeared,  and  the  crowd  that  had  been 
looking  on  with  critical  eyes  declared  that  his  mouth 
looked  as  natural  as  though  the  new  ones  were  those 
with  which  Nature  had  originally  supplied  him. 

Leaving  this  greasy  charlatan  with  his  inodorous 
stock-in-trade,  we  again  join  the  grand  procession  of 
human  life  that  moves  along  as  though  impelled  by 
some  decree  of  fate.  Beggars  by  the  wayside  try  to 
move  our  compassion  by  bestowing  upon  us  high 
mandarin  titles  and  appointments  under  Government  that 
would  bring  us  unbounded  wealth.  Scholars  and  mer- 
chants, and  coolies  with  bare  feet  and  clad  in  patched 
and  torn  dull  blue  cotton  cloth,  move  along  by  our 
side,  or  jostle  us  as  the  crowd  thickens  where  the  roads 
converge.  As  we  saunter  along  amongst  the  busy 
crowd,  getting  new  impressions  of  Chinese  life  from  the 
varied  faces  that  we  meet  with,  we  come  upon  a  narrow 
nook,  just  off  the  main  line  of  traffic.  Our  attention 
is  arrested  by  a  man  who  is  seated  at  a  small  table, 
on  which  are  laid  conspicuously  a  Chinese  inkstone  and 
a  pen  ready  for  immediate  use.  He  is  about  fifty  years 
old,  with  a  semi-scholarly,  semi-shopman  air  about  him. 
.We  recognise  him  at  once  as  a  public  letter- writer.  The 
great  mass  of  the  people  can  neither  read  nor  write. 
There  are  countless  homes  where  not  a  single  member 
can  do  either,  and  they  have  to  depend  on  such  men  as 
this  when  they  wish  to  correspond  with  their  friends. 

He  is  sitting  and  waiting  with  all  the  patience  that 
is  characteristic  of  his  countrymen.  One  would  never 
dream  that  his  very  livelihood  depends  upon  the  number 

15 


226    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN   CHINA 

of  his  customers.  He  is  as  calm  and  unconcerned-look- 
ing as  thoug*h  he  had  a  private  fortune  of  his  own, 
and  cared  not  whether  he  was  employed  or  not.  Whilst 
we  are  standing  looking  at  him,  a  woman  steps  out  of 
the  crowd,  and  comes  up  to  the  table  with  a  sheet  of 
paper  in  her  hand.  She  is  between  forty  and  fifty  years 
of  age  and  belongs  to  the  humbler  classes.  This  is 
quite  evident  by  her  presence  there  on  the  street,  for 
a  woman,  even  of  the  middle  class,  would  never  dream 
of  coming  out  alone  as  she  has  done.  She  has  large, 
unbound  feet  too,  which  means  that  in  an  early  period 
of  her  life  she  was  a  slave,  but  in  some  way  or  other  she 
has  obtained  her  freedom  and  is  now  her  own  mistress. 

Her  face  is  a  pleasant  and  kindly  one,  and  as  she 
stands  and  tells  her  story  we  feel  that  the  human  heart 
is  the  same  in  China  that  it  is  in  England,  and  that  it 
beats  to  the  same  tune  and  the  same  music  in  this  far-off 
land  as  it  does  in  the  West.  She  tells,  at  first  in  stam- 
mering, hesitating  language,  how  her  son  has  gone 
abroad,  and  that  for  a  whole  year  she  has  heard  nothing 
from  him.  As  she  says  this,  there  is  a  break  in  her  voice 
and  her  eyes  become  full  of  tears.  **  He  was  always 
a  good  son,"  she  continued,  *'  and  he  left  me  simply 
because  we  were  so  poor.  He  was  an  industrious, 
hard-working  lad,  but  he  earned  so  little  that  we  had 
scarcely  enough  to  eat.  One  day  a  man  who  had  been 
abroad  told  him  of  the  high  wages  he  could  earn  in 
Singapore,  and  how  steady  young  men  were  always 
sure  of  employment  there.  The  news  filled  his  heart 
with  hope,  and  he  pleaded  with  me  to  let  him  go.  For 
a  long  time  I  withheld  my  consent,  for  I  did  not  wish 
to  part  with  him  as  I  was  afraid  that  something  might 
happen  to  him  in  that  far-off  land.  He  might  get  ill  or 
he  might  die,  and  I  should  never  see  him  again.  But 
he  was  very  determined,  and  finding  his  mind  was  so 
set  upon  going,  I  at  last  reluctantly  yielded  to  his 
entreaties  and  he  left  me. 

**  That  was  five  years  ago,'*  she  said,  **  and  every 
year  till  the  present  he  has  sent  me  home  all  the 
money  he  could  spare  out  of  his  earnings.  This  year 
all  letters  have  ceased,  and  I  can  get  no  tidings  of 
him,  so  my  heart  is  breaking  for  fear  lest  he  may  be 
dead,"    and   here   her   tears    begin   to   flow   down   her 


AN   ITINERANT   COOK. 


A    LETTER-WRITER. 
The  man  on  the  right  is  the  Scribe. 


To  face  p.  227. 


A  RAMBLE  THROUGH  A  CHINESE  CITY     227 

cheeks,  and  sobs  to  check  her  utterance.  It  is  a  most 
pathetic  scene.  Several  people  who  have  stopped  with 
Chinese  familiarity  to  listen  to  her  story  are  full  of 
sympathy,  and  in  order  to  ease  her  mind  they  invent 
the  fable  that  her  son  is  in  the  most  perfect  health 
and  that  he  is  doing  well  and  prospering  in  Singapore. 
They  assure  her  that  the  only  reason  why  she  has  not 
received  letters  and  money  is  because  of  the  dishonesty 
of  the  people  to  whom  they  were  entrusted.  They  knew 
this  for  a  fact  and  they  told  her  to  dry  her  tears  and 
take  heart,  for  before  long  she  would  receive  tidings 
that  would  fill  her  heart  with  joy.  All  these  statements 
were,  of  course,  pure  fiction,  but  as  the  Chinese  mind 
does  not  look  upon  truth  as  we  do,  it  was  considered 
a  highly  meritorious  act  pleasantly  to  deceive  her  for 
her  own  comfort  with  a  plausible  story  that  had  no 
foundation  in  fact. 

The  face  of  the  letter-writer  was  a  perfect  study 
whilst  this  little  scene  was  being  enacted.  He  sat 
with  a  calm  and  unimpassioned  look,  as  though  he 
were  a  judge  listening  to  the  pleading  of  counsel.  He 
made  no  attempt  to  check  the  eloquence  of  the  woman, 
or  to  suggest  that  a  briefer  description  of  her  case 
would  be  more  satisfactory  and  take  up  less  of  his 
time.  To  enable  him  to  write  a  letter  that  would 
embody  her  ideas,  he  must  listen  to  her  patiently,  and 
let  her  tell  her  story  in  her  own  way.  He  must  also 
not  interrupt  the  fiction  of  the  bystanders.  The  Oriental 
delights  in  the  picturesque,  and  all  the  lights  and 
shadows  that  can  be  thrown  upon  the  subject  are  con- 
sidered as  so  many  touches  that  help  to  bring  out  the 
prominent  figure  in  the  picture. 

After  every  one  has  had  his  say,  and  the  tragedy 
of  this  woman's  life  has  been  discussed  from  all  points 
by  the  group  before  him,  the  writer  suddenly  grasps 
his  pen,  and  in  flowery  language  and  in  phrases  culled 
from  the  writings  of  the  sages,  he  has  soon  filled  the 
paper  she  has  given  him  with  her  loving  wishes  to  her 
son  and  her  entreaties  to  him  to  write  to  her  as  soon 
as  possible  and  let  her  know  how  he  is.  Having  read 
it  over  to  her  and  folded  and  addressed  it,  he  receives 
for  all  his  trouble  a  small  pile  of  cash  equal  in  value 
to  about  a  halfpenny  of  English  money. 


228    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

We  once  more  mingle  with  the  throng,  and  drift 
along  with  the  human  tide.  In  spite  of  filth  and  smells 
and  unsavoury  surroundings,  there  is  a  fascination  about 
the  scenes  one  sees  in  these  narrow,  ill-kept  streets. 
There  are  types  of  life  that  one  never  dreams  of 
in  the  West,  and  strange  manners  that  are  the  outcome 
of  a  civilisation  and  thought  that  are  the  product  of 
this  luxuriant  East.  Among  the  motley  crowd  there 
are  farmers  carrying  the  produce  of  their  farms  on 
bamboo  poles  resting  on  their  shoulders,  Buddhist 
priests  with  shaven  heads  and  unwashed  gowns,  and 
peddlers,  conjurers,  and  loafing-looking  ruffians  upon 
whose  faces  are  written  theft  and  violence  when  dark- 
ness has  settled  upon  the  unlighted  city.  One  could 
easily  fancy  oneself  to  be  in  a  huge  fair,  where  every 
class  had  been  gathered  either  for  pleasure  or  for 
business.  It  would  seem,  indeed,  as  though  the  idea 
of  amusement  were  the  uppermost  one,  and  that  jokers 
and  mountebanks  were  in  the  predominance,  for  some- 
how or  other  most  of  the  faces  one  sees  suggest  the 
comical  and  cause  us  to  smile,  although  we  could  hardly 
tell  the  reason  why. 

As  we  are  idly  moving  on,  we  come  to  an  open  space 
in  front  of  a  small  temple,  and  in  a  moment  our 
thoughts  are  carried  away,  in  a  flash,  to  the  far-off 
West,  for  there,  right  before  us,  is  a  Punch  and  Judy 
show.  There  is  nothing  that  we  have  seen  that  excites 
so  warm  an  interest  in  our  hearts  as  this.  It  is  the 
one  sole  bit  of  the  Occident  that  has  strayed  into  the 
midst  of  this  strange,  old-world,  old-fashioned  life,  and 
it  seems  as  though  it  had  brought  with  it  a  whiff  that 
was  fragrant  with  the  thoughts  and  memories  of  the 
homeland. 

The  show  seems  to  be  an  exact  reproduction  of  the 
one  that  so  charmed  us  and  made  our  sides  split 
with  laughter  when  we  were  young,  only  the  figures 
are  Chinese,  and  the  language  the  harsh,  mechanical 
sounds  of  the  country,  and  there  is  no  dog.  The 
conduct  of  the  play  is  about  the  same.  The  man  inside 
the  curtain  controls  with  equal  perfection  the  various 
figures  as  they  are  hoisted  up  before  the  audience,  and 
the  loud  falsetto  voices  of  men  engaged  in  an  angry 
contest  of  words,  and  the  sounds  of  people  in  ordinary 
conversation,  are  reproduced  to  the   very  life. 


A  RAMBLE  THROUGH  A  CHINESE  CITY      229 

The  one  question  that  perplexes  us  is,  how  it  is 
that  two  sets  of  civilisation,  as  wide  as  the  poles  from 
each  other,  could  have  independently,  devised  such  a 
grotesque  and  humorous  form  of  amusement  as  Punch 
and  Judy.  We  have  absolutely  no  answer  to  give  to 
this.  After  a  time  we  tear  ourselves  away  regret- 
fully from  the  show,  and  as  we  lose  ourselves  once 
more  amongst  the  throng,  we  catch  the  high  scream- 
ing notes  of  Punch,  as  they  follow  us  over  the  heads 
of  the  people,  some  time  after  we  have  lost  sight  of 
the  play. 

We  have  not  proceeded  far  when  our  ear  catches 
a  sound  in  the  distance  of  brazen  gongs  struck  sharply 
and  with  emphasis,  whilst  at  the  same  time  there  are 
notes  of  human  voices,  pitched  in  a  high  key,  that 
come  lingering  and  trailing  through  the  air,  as  though 
those  who  uttered  them  were  unwilling  to  part  with 
them,  and  held  on  to  them  as  long  as  breath  would 
allow.  These  are  warnings  that  a  mandarin  is  coming, 
and  that  every  one  must  hasten  to  get  out  of  his 
way,  under  pain  of  incurring  his  severe  anger  and 
displeasure.  The  leisurely  Oriental  air  of  the  moving 
crowds  is  at  once  exchanged  for  an  Occidental  one. 
Some  rush  forward  to  get  far  in  advance  in  order 
to  make  their  escape  round  the  first  turning.  Others, 
make  a  dash  for  the  sides  of  the  road,  w.here  they 
flatten  themselves  as  flat  as  pancakes,  whilst  with  hands 
drooping  by  their  sides,  and  queues  hanging  reverently 
down  their  backs,  they  assume  a  posture  of  humility  as 
the  great  man  passes. 

By  this  time  the  centre  of  the  road  is  absolutely 
empty,  and  the  head  of  the  mandarin  procession  looms 
in  view.  First  come  the  men  with  gongs,  which  they 
occasionally  clang  for  the  benefit  of  the  crowds  ahead. 
Next  to  them  are  the  "  shouters,"  whose  crescendo 
notes  come  between  the  intervals  of  the  gong-beating. 
These  are  clad  in  long  dresses  that  come  to  their 
ankles.  On  their  heads  they  have  tall  hats  in  the 
shape  of  a  candle -extinguisher,  which  they  cock  on 
one  side.  This  gives  them  a  most  comical  appea,r- 
ance,  and  yet,  strange  to  say,  the  Chinese  see  nothing 
funny  in  it.  In  their  hands  they  carry  whips  ready 
poised  for  action,  and  keen  glances  are  cast  to  the 


230    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

right  and  to  the  left  to  see  if  there  is  not  some  delin- 
quent upon  whom  they  may  practise  their  calling.  A 
shade  of  disapipointment  seems  to  cloud  their  faces, 
because  every  one  is  so  good  that  they  have  no  excuse 
for  slashing  at  them.  Behind  these  shouters  walk  a 
few  men  with  chains  in  their  hands,  ready  to  bind 
any  unfortunate  who  may  incur  the  wrath  of  the 
mandarin.  These  men  are  most  villainous  and  disre- 
putable-looking, with  clothes  so  dirty  that  it  is  beyond 
the  power  of  soap  or  carbolic  to  cleanse  them.  Closely 
following  these  comes  the  official,  seated  in  his  sedan- 
chair,  borne  by  eight  bearers.  He  is  a  beau-ideal 
specimen  of  the  genus  mandarin,  being  stout,  capacious, 
and  with  an  air  of  haughtiness  and  pride.  The  typical 
mandarin  is  never  thin.  Why  should  he  be  so?  He  is 
ever  busy  in  the  pleasant  occupation  of  scooping  in 
the  dollars  and  of  fleecing  his  people.  He  has  a 
delightfully  easy  conscience,  his  wealth  is  growing, 
and  he  lives   upon  the  fat  of  the   land. 

His  face  is  not  an  attractive  one  to  look  upon.  It 
is  broad  and  expansive,  but  it  is  cold  and  haughty. 
If  he  sees  the  crowds  that  flatten  themselves  up  against 
the  shops  he  gives  no  sign  that  he  does  so.  No  smile 
thaws  the  winter  of  his  features,  and  no  kindly  sym- 
pathies soften  the  stony  look  in  his  eyes.  He  might 
be  a  water-buffalo  carried  in  state,  so  untouched  does 
he  seem  to  be  by  any  human  passion  or  feeling.  A 
great  deal  of  this  is,  no  doubt,  put  on.  A  rigid  deport- 
ment and  a  cold,  disdainful  air  are  supposed  to  be 
essential  in  a  ruler,  for  in  private  where  I  have  met 
some  of  these  gentry  I  have  found  them  to  be  as 
genial  and  as  full  of  laughter  and  mirth  as  any  of  the 
common  people  on  whom  the  cares  of  state  have  never 
sat.  The  procession  passes  on  with  a  swing,  and  the 
yellow-faced,  perspiring  crowds,  with  a  sigh  of  relief, 
glide  into  the  vacant  roadway,  and  the  stteam  rolls  on 
as  before. 

As  we  wind  our  way  amidst  the  ebb  and  flow  of  this 
Chinese  human  life^  we  are  struck  with  the  fact  that 
there  must  be  a  good  deal  of  poverty  amongst  the 
people  generally— that  is,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  the 
people  we  meet  on  the  streets.  Their  clothes  are 
made  of  the  commonest  materials,  and  even  these  are 


A  RAMBLE  THROUGH  A  CHINESE  CITY      231 

not  well  kept.  They  are  greasy  and  frowsy-looking, 
and  have  the  appearance  of  having  never  seen  soap 
and  water  since  they  were  first  made  in  the  remote 
past.  The  result  is  that  the  people,  as  a  whole,  are 
sadly  wanting  in  picturesqueness,  and  the  general 
absence  of  women  renders  this  all  the  more  conspicuous. 
As  we  are  sauntering  along,  gazing  at  the  strange 
faces  that  here  and  there  attract  our  attention,  and 
at  the  funny-looking  signboards  that  the  tradesmen 
hang  out  in  front  of  their  shops,  we  find  our  progress 
impeded  by  a  crowd  that  has  gathered  in  front  of  a 
large  idol-shop.  The  gods  within  seem  unconcerned 
and  sit  with  placid -looking  faces  on  the  shelves  as 
though  the  unusual  numbers  that  are  blocking  up  the 
street  were  a  matter  of  everyday  occurrence.  We  press 
forward  anVi  find  that  the  stoppage  is  caused  by  a 
quarrel  between  two  men.  They  are  both  highly  ex- 
cited, and  it  seems  as  though  a  fight  is  imminent. 
Their  faces  are  inflamed  with  passion,  and  they  gesticu- 
late violently  and  point  with  their  outstretched  hands 
at  each  other,  whilst  the  language  to  sting  and  enrage 
one  another  is  strong  and  sulphurous,.  We  notice, 
however,  that  there  is  no  clenching  of  fists  by  either 
of  them,  as  there  would  have  been  by  two  infuriated 
Englishmen.  In  addition  to  the  vilest  and  most  dis- 
gusting language  that  they  hurl  at  each  other,  they 
seem  to  rely  upon  one  particular  gesture  as  the  choicest 
in  the  whole  armoury  of  their  attack,  and  that  is  the 
thrusting  of  their  middle  finger  as  near  the  faces  of 
their  opponents  as  they  can  safely  get.  There  isi 
nothing  in  the  whole  range  of  Chinese  insult  that  sur- 
passes this  as  an  expression  of  deadly  hate  and  con- 
tempt. The  men  seem  as  though  they  have  been  struck 
with  a  whip  whenever  the  long,  thin  finger,  standing 
out  distinctly  from  the  rest,  is  darted,  rapier-like,  at 
their  faces.  In  spite,  however,  of  the  apparently  deadly 
nature  of  the  enmity  that  exists  between  them,  there 
seems  to  be  no  fight  in  either  of  them.  I  soon  perceived 
that  when  each  man  made  his  rush  at  the  other,  it 
was  just  at  the  precise  time  when  he  knew  that  a 
number  of  men  about  him  would  dart  out  upon  him 
and  drag  him  back  beyond  the  reach  of  his  enemy.. 
The  whole  thing  by  and  by  became  positively  ludicrous^ 


232    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

and  though  the  men  were  really  in  a  tremendous 
passion,  the  scene  had  all  the  effect  upon  me  of  a 
wild  burlesque  that  had  been  got  up  to  break  the 
everlasting  monotony  of  Chinese   life. 

All  this  time  no  policeman  had  appeared  upon  the 
scene,  for  the  very  sufficient  reason  that  such  an  official 
is  not  to  be  found  in  the  whole  town.,  The  fact  is 
the  preservation  of  the  peace  is  left  in  the  hands  of 
the  people,  unpaid,  and  yet  still  held  responsible  for, 
any  serious  disturbance  that  may  take  place  in  any 
part  of  the  tovm.  After  a  time  the  shopkeepers,  think- 
ing the  whole  thing  a  nuisance,  ordered  off  the  two 
disturbers  of  the  peace,  with  an  intimation  t,hat  they 
would  make  it  hot  for  them  if  they  did  not  go.  Angry 
and  sullen,  and  breathing  out  maledictions,  they  went 
off  in  different  directions,  and  the  traffic  of  the  street 
resumed   its   usual   course. 

There  is  one  very  noticeable  feature  in  these  streets, 
and  that  is  the  dogs.  Every  family  makes  it  a  point 
of  having  one  for  police  purposes  to  protect  itself 
from  thieves  during  the  silent  hours  of  the  night,  for 
there  is  no  other  force  that  can  be  depended  upon  as 
can  these  anipials.  The  Chinese  dog  has  little  to 
commend  it  beyond  its  intense  fidelity  to  the  family 
to  which  it  belongs.  It  is  a  common,  mangy-looking 
cur  with  not  a  single  element  of  beauty  about  it.  It 
is  full  of  life  and  spirit,  and  it  is  pugnacious  in  every 
fibre  of  its  being.  The  sound  of  battle  is  sweet  music 
to  it,  and  will  send  it  hurrying  he'adlong,  with  open 
mouth  and  short,  sh^rp  yelps,  in  its  direction  to  join 
the  fray. 

It  is  most  amusing  to  observe  the  way  in  which 
dog-life  manifests  itself  in  any  street  along  which  one 
may  pass.  The  dogs  have  evidently  a  system  of  laws 
for  the  preservation  of  their  rights,  which  they  guard 
as  jealously  as  any  body  of  men  do  theirs.  Every 
animal,  for  example,  se,ems  to  have  the  belief  that  a 
certain  space  in  front  of  its  master's  door  belongs  to 
it.  Should  a  stray  dog  make  an  incursion  upon  it, 
without  its  consent,  a  furious  assault  is  at  once  made 
upon  it,  not  only,  by  the  assumed  owner  of  the  land, 
but  also  by  the  dogs  on  both  sides  of  it.  Now  these 
animals    are    perfectly    willing    to    let    all    and    every 


A  RAMBLE  THROUGH  A   CHINESE  CITY     233 

Chinese  human  being  pass  without  restriction,  but  the 
moment  a  foreigner  is  seen,  war  to  the  knife  is  at 
once  declared.  Some  ugly  brute  catches  sight  of  him. 
With  short,  a;ngry,  ba,rks,  and  snarling  lips  that  turn 
up  with  such  withering  scorn  that  his  white,  gleaiming 
teeth  are  all  exposed,  he  dogs  his  footsteps.  The 
sounds  are  heard  by  the  brutes  ahea,d,  and  instantly 
they  are  on  the  alert  to  worry  him  when  he  appears 
on  their  ground.  Were  it  not  for  the  conservative 
principle  that  keeps  these  animals  within  their  own 
domains,  the  foreigner  would  often  run  the  risk  of 
being  severely  injured. 

As  we  continue  our  walk  through  the  streets,  a  feeling 
of  monotony  begins  to  creep  over  us.  Everything  is 
so  common -looking  and  stereotyped.  There  are  no 
surprises  in  a  Chinese  town.  High  art  has  had  no 
hand  in  constructing  it,  and  Nature  has  been  severely 
thrust  out  of  it.  The  shops  are  all  built  to  the  same 
inartistic  pattern »  A  wide  opening,  closed  at  night 
by  shutters  and  by  day  revealing  the  contents  and 
in  many  cases  the  family  life  of  the  inmates,  is  the 
only  sign  of  the  design  of  the  builder.  The  next  door 
is  the  same,  and  the  next  and  the  next,  and  so  on 
through  countless  streets  and  alleyways,  the  same  primi- 
tive conception  that  their  fathers  had  two  thousand 
years  ago.  No  trees  are  seen  in  the  streets.  The 
slabs  of  roughly-hewn  granite  stone  are  flung  across 
it  with  no  artistic  taste,  and  no  design  but  that  af 
severe  utility.  The  ceaseless  tread  of  countless  feet 
has  worn  these  down  unevenly,  and  miniature  ponds 
and  lakes  collect  here  in  wet  weather.  The  drains 
that  run  below  get  foul  and  choked,  and  through  their 
open  seams  exude  black  slime  saturated  with  smells 
and  odours  that  taint  the  air^ 

No  touch  of  Nature  is  seen  anywhere,  and  no  colours 
painted  by  her  hand  relieve  the  dreary,  dusty  work 
of  maric  The  spring  comes  round,  but  there  is  no 
blossoming  of  flowers  or  buds  along  these  narrow 
arteries,  where  the  feet  of  men  would  crush  them  in 
the  dust.  Summer  succeeds,  and  outside  the  fields 
and  the  hills  are  crowned  with  living  beauty,  but  the 
streets  seem  to  grow  more  dusty  and  dreary  than  ever. 
The  autumn,  laden  with  harvests  and  luscious  fruits, 


234    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

comes  with  generous  hands  to  gladden  mfen's  hearts, 
but  it  can  find  no  place  in  these  cramped,  unsavoury, 
inartistic  roads.  .Winter  follows,  but  the  only  sign 
is  that  it  is  cooler,  and  the  great  mad  sun  has  lost  his 
power  to  scorch.  There  are  no  falling  leaves,  and 
trees  naked  and  bare,  silent  prophecies  of  the  new  life 
that  the  coming  spring  will  bring.  The  streets  are  the 
same  all  the  year  round.  There  men  are  crowded  so 
close  to  each  other  that  there  seems  no  place  to  breathe. 
There  cholera  and  plague  and  fevers  run  riot,  and  there 
the  great  human  heart  bears  the  tragedies  of  life,  and 
with  a  heroism  that  is  pathetic  strives  to  make  the 
best  of  a  life  from  which  romance  and  poetry  h^av^ 
been  driven  out. 

The  one  redeeming  feature  about  this  concentrated 
mass  of  uncleanliness  and  squalor  and  discomfort  is 
the  people  themselves.  Somehow  or  other  there  is 
an  attraction  about  them  that  never  loses  its  power. 
It  is  not  because  they  are  beautiful,  for  the  nmsses 
are  exceedingly  plain  and  unattractive.  They  are  unre- 
fined, too,  and  often  very  exasperating  in  their  manners. 
In  spite  of  all  this  there  is  a  something  about  these 
inartistic,  rough -hewn  faces  that  draws  us  to  them,  and 
we  forget  the  ugliness  of  the  features  in  the  easy  good- 
nature, the  broad  grin  that  illumines  the  face  at  the 
least  sign  of  humour,  and  the  large  fund  of  genuine 
human  feeling  that  they  undoubtedly  possess. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

RIVER    LIFE   IN    CHINA 

The  rivers  of  China  have  in  all  ages  been  the  great 
means  by  which  it  has  been  possible  to  carry  on  the 
traffic  of  this  extensive  country.  As  shown  in  the 
chapter  on  '*  Highways  and  Byways,"  the  Chinese,  like 
all  Oriental  nations,  have  never,  in  any  large  sense, 
been  road -makers.  It  is  true  that  on  the  great  trade 
routes,  along  which  the  products  of  the  various  provinces 
have  been  carried  from  one  to  another,  a  serious  attempt 
has  often  been  made,  both  by  the  Government  and  the 
people,  to  construct  roads  that  would  faciHtate  the 
passage  of  the  merchandise  in  the  long  journeys  that 
were  made  from  the  Yellow  Sea  in  the  east  to  the  fan- 
off  province  of  Szechuan  in  the  west. 

It  was  not  the  love  of  making  roads,  however,  that 
led  to  the  construction  of  these,  but  sheer  and  absolute 
necessity.  That  this  was  really  so  is  proved  by  the 
fact  that  the  upkeep  of  these  thoroughfares  was  always 
most  uncertain  and  most  unsatisfactory.  There  was 
no  system  for  their  maintenance  and  repair,  and  no 
regularly  appointed  officials  to  see  that  they  were  kept 
from  falling  into  ruins.  A  bridge,  for  example,  for 
some  time  would  show  signs  of  weakness.  The  slabs 
of  stone  that  formed  the  roadway  would  become  uneven, 
so  that  foot  passengers  would  find  it  troublesome  to 
pick  their  way  across  it,  whilst  coolies  with  heavy 
burdens  would  pant  and  groan  as  they  stumbled  over 
the  rugged  surface,  fearful  lest  they  should  fall  and 
hurt  themselves  against  the  uptilted  comers  of  the  huge 
slabs.  Nothing,  however,  would  be  done,  simply 
because  there  was  no  one  to  see  about  it,  until  finally 
when  the  danger  became  so  pressing  that  it  seemed 
as  though  the   bridge  would  collapse  some   influential 

235 


iSiipWi 


236    MEN  AND^  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

person  in  the  neighbourhood  would  collect  subscriptions 
and  have  it  repaired. 

If  this  were  the  case  with  the  great  roads,  where 
the  traffic  was  incessant  and  along  which  mandarins  and 
Government  officials  and  packhorses  with  sore  backs 
and  huge  burdens,  as  well  as  the  constant  and  never- 
ending  stream  of  foot  passengers,  travelled  from  early 
dawn  till  the  deepening  twilight  filled  them  with 
shadows,  much  more  so  was  it  with  the  countless  cross- 
roads that  like  an  immense  net  intersected  the  country. 
These  were  left  very  much  to  Nature  to  grapple  with, 
and  though  she  did  her  best  with  grasses  and  with  wild 
flowers  and  other  artistic  methods,  she  could  never 
succeed  in  making  them  strong  and  serviceable  and 
fit  to  bear  the  strain  of  the  rain-storms  that  often  burst 
like  a  deluge  over  this  land,  or  to  endure  the  incessant 
wear  and  tear  of  the  patient  feet  that,  the  whole  year 
round,  tread  them  in  the  long  and  weary  journeys  that 
they  have  to  make  throughout  the  empire. 

Now,  fortunately  for  the  toilers  of  this  land — and 
these  constitute  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  entire 
population— the  country  is  covered  with  great  rivers 
and  noble  lakes  and  streams  innumerable,  that  flow 
with  a  never-ending  song  from  the  lofty  mountains  that 
stand  as  sentinels  on  the  borderland  of  the  empire,  and 
that  abound  in  nearly  every  one  of  the  eighteen 
provinces  that  make  up  the  vast  area  of  this  beautiful 
country. 

These  lakes,  streams,  and  mighty  rivers  that  flow 
as  with  the  march  of  a  conqueror  to  the  ocean  have 
sent  their  tributaries  far  and  wide  into  every  opening 
and  nook  and  cranny  where  Nature  would  give  them 
permission  to  flow,  to  cover  the  land  with  great  forests, 
and  luxuriant  harvests,  and  flowers  so  varied  and 
abundant  that  they  have  actually  given  a  name  to  China, 
and  the  wide  world  over  it  is  known  as  **  The  Flowery 
Kingdom.*' 

But  besides  this  beneficent  purpose  these  rivers  and 
streams  have  fulfilled  in  some  respects  a  no  less  im- 
portant one,  viz.,  the  bringing  into  touch  with  each 
other  the  remote  and  distant  regions  of  the  country 
that  without  them  would  be  as  far  removed  from  one 
another  as  though  they  belonged  to  different  continents. 


RIVER  LIFE  IN  CHINA  237 

The  magnificent  River  Yangtze,  the  "  Son  of  the 
Ocean,"  that  runs  right  across  the  centre  of  the  country, 
is  an  example  of  what  I  mean.  The  entrance  to  this 
mighty  stream  is  a  veritable  sea,  where  no  banks  can 
be  seen  to  mark  its  boundaries,  but  where  its  waters, 
yellow  with  the  sands  that  have  drifted  down  with  it 
from  the  interior,  are  now  broken  into  murmuring 
ripples  by  the  passing  breeze,  and  anon  turned  into 
wild  and  maddened  waves  by  the  fierce  blasts  of  the 
typhoon.  Great  ocean-going  steamers  can  travel  up 
it  for  six  hundred  miles,  and  still  beyond,  for  more  than 
fifteen  hundred,  the  broad  stream  flows  through  some 
of  the  richest  provinces  of  the  empire.  Along  this 
from  the  earliest  days  the  traffic  of  the  East  has  been 
carried  on  with  the  West,  and  huge  unwieldy  junks  and 
sailing-boats  of  a  thousand  different  patterns  and  con- 
struction force  their  way  against  the  ever-ebbing  tide 
of  this  son  of  the  ocean  up  great  stretches  where  no 
banks  on  either  side  can  be  seen,  and  through  gorges 
where  the  mountains,  envious  of  the  river,  have  invaded 
its  domain  and  left  but  a  few  hundred  yards  through 
which  it  can  hurl  its  waters  in  a  fierce  and  mighty 
onrush  to  the  sea.  On  they  go  to  the  far-off  goal 
in  the  west,  with  great  plains  stretching  on  both  sides 
into  the  horizon,  and  up  great  waterfalls  where  they 
have  to  be  dragged  by  hundreds  of  sturdy  arms  through 
black  and  cruel  rocks  over  which  the  stream  ever  breaks 
with  an  angry  roar,  and  where  the  breaking  of  a  rope 
would  mean  the  instant  wrecking  of  the  boat  and  the 
destruction  of  all  on  board.  Still  day  after  day  and 
week  after  week,  with  the  steady  patience  of  the  in- 
domitable Chinese,  the  boats  travel  on  amongst  people 
speaking  languages  different  from  the  ports  from  which 
they  started,  and  through  regions  marked  by  great 
luxuriance  of  natural  wealth,  and  at  others  by  a  wild 
and  desert  look,  they  at  last  cast  anchor  two  thousand 
miles  Away  from  home  in  the  far-off  harbour  in  the 
west. 

The  Yellow  River  is  another  example  of  the  beneficent 
and  civilising  influences  of  these  mighty  streams  that  act 
as  the  highways  along  which  the  various  products  of 
differing  regions  are  carried  to  each  other,  and  over 
whose  surface  glide  thousands  of  boats  and  junks  of 


238    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

all  shapes  and  sizes,  with  countless  passengers  every 
year  to  penetrate  into  territories  that,  but  for  them, 
would  be  lands  undiscovered  and  unknown  to  the  distant 
parts  of  the  empire. 

This  river  is  the  most  famous  in  China,  for  it  has 
been  the  most  deeply  associated  with  the  life  of  the 
nation.  The  very  earliest  settlers  in  their  travels  east- 
ward made  their  first  encampments  on  its  banks,  and 
from  there  started  the  great  empire  that  has  spread 
far  beyond  into  regions  where  its  name  is  but  a  sound 
and  a  tradition. 

Along  its  shores  many  of  the  greatest  events  in 
ancient  times  that  come  to  us  with  an  air  of  mystery 
about  them  because  of  their  antiquity  were  transacted 
by  the  sages  and  heroes  that  helped  to  make  Chinese 
history.  It  is  a  river  that  may  be  well  proud  of  its 
traditions,  for  it  has  always  been  associated  with  the 
great  men  and  the  most  stirring  events  in  the  life  of 
the  Chinese.  Not  far  from  its  banks  were  born  the  men 
whose  names  are  known  the  wide  world  over. 

Dynasty  after  dynasty  rose  and  flourished  and  passed 
away  within  sight  of  its  waters.  Its  memory  is 
enshrined  and  preserved  in  the  sacred  books  of  the 
country,  and  civilisation  grew  and  literature  sprang  up 
and  flourished  almost  within  the  sound  of  its  mighty 
waters . 

It  has  not  always  been  a  kindly  and  beneficent  force, 
for  to-day  one  of  the  names  by  which  it  is  widely, 
known  is  '*  China's  Sorrow."  Wild  fits  of  madness 
at  times  come  over  it,  and  then  it  is  a  fury  that 
spares  neither  man,  woman,  nor  child.  When  the  great 
mountains  beyond  send  down  their  floods  and  the  rains 
in  springtime  descend  in  sheets  as  though  the  very 
flood-gates  of  the  sky  were  flung  wide  open,  then  the 
river,  filled  up  to  the  very  brim,  becomes  a  ruthless 
demon,  and  in  its  hatred  of  restraint  bursts  its  banks, 
races  madly  across  the  plains,  and  tears  down  villages 
and  submerges  walled  cities  and  drowns  their  peoples, 
leaving  a  sea  where  once  the  landscape  was  dotted 
with  thousands  of  towns  and  villages. 

The  Son  of  the  Ocean  and  the  Yellow  River  are  the 
two  great  streams  of  China,  but  there  are  countless 
others  that  but  for  them  would  be  deemed  worthy  of 


RIVER  LIFE  IN  CHINA  239 

no  mean  place  amongst  the  waterways  of  the  country. 
China  is  positively  rich  in  such,  and  its  people,  con- 
scious of  their  value,  have  given  free  rein  to  their 
inventive  genius  and  devised  myriad  shapes  and  plans 
of  boats  to  suit  the  particular  kind  of  river  or  streamlet 
along  which  they  are  meant  to  travel.  It  will  be 
apparent  from  this  that  the  proportion  of  people  that 
spend  their  lives  in  boats  in  this  wonderful  land  is 
very  considerable.  I  do  not  refer  simply  to  those  who 
are  passengers,  and  who,  after  they  have  reached  their 
destination,  take  up  their  abode  on  Shore,  but  to  those 
who  are  permanent  dwellers  on  the  waters.  There 
are  large  popmlations  that  are  bom  and  reared  on  it, 
who  marry  in  these  boats  and  bring  up  families  in 
them,  and  who  finally  breathe  their  last  within  them. 
If  the  Chinese  were  not  an  exceedingly  patient,  long- 
enduring  people,  and  tolerant  of  discomfort  such  as 
would  make  an  Englishman  mad  and  disgusted  with 
life,  boat -life  would  become  so  intolerable  that  men 
would  refuse  to  endure  it. 

But  let  me  describe  one  of  these  floating  homes  and 
take  a  trip  of  a  few  weeks  in  her,  when  we  shall 
get  a  glimpse  into  the  way  in  which  large  numbers 
of  people  spend  their  lives,  and  with  good -nature  and 
content  perform  what  would  be  to  us  the  most  irksome 
of  duties.  The  boat  I  refer  to  is  one  built  for  the 
passenger  trade  and  is  about  twenty-four  feet  long  and 
six  feet  wide.  In  the  centre  is  a  cabin  ten  feet  long, 
where  the  passengers  live,  and  cut  off  from  this  by 
a  wooden  partition  with  a  sliding  door  in  it  is  a  narrow 
compartment,  three  feet  in  width,  in  which  a  male 
servant,  if  any,  and  sundry  small  articles  of  luggage 
may  be  accommodated. 

Beyond  this  small  room  is  a  clear  space  of  eight 
feet  that  reaches  to  the  stern  of  the  boat.  On  this 
and  in  a  hold,  some  two  feet  deep  that  lies  beneath 
the  deck,  provision  has  been  made  for  steering,  rowing, 
cooking,  and  sleeping  of  the  captain  and  his  crew. 
At  the  bow  there  is  a  vacant  space  of  five  feet  where 
some  of  the  men  stand  and  row  in  case  of  calm  or 
head  winds,  and  where  they  hoist  or  lower  the  sails 
as  the  need  may  be. 

,The  most  rectiarkaible  thing  in  the  economy  of  this 


240    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

boat  is  the  very  limited  space  into  which  the  crew  of 
six  sturdy  fellows  are  content  to  be  cramped  as  long 
as  the  voyage  may  last.  The  wonder,  indeed,  is,  how- 
ever are  they  to  be  accommodated?  where  are  they 
to  sit  when  they  are  not  at  work?  where  will  they  eat, 
and,  most  important  of  all,  where  are  they  to  sleep? 

Whilst  the  boat  is  in  motion  the  problem  seems  less 
difficult  to  solve,  for  half  of  the  men  are  in  the  bow 
poling  or  rowing,  whilst  the  rest  are  engaged  in  the 
same  operations  in  the  stern.  It  is  when  they  rest  for 
meals  or  when  the  boat  is  anchored  for  the  night  that 
the  true  genius  of  the  Chinese  for  adapting  himself  to 
the  most  uncomfortable  of  positions  comes  out. 

There  is  absolutely  nothing  for  him  to  sit  upon  but 
the  boards  of  the  deck,  and  no  space  in  which  he  can 
stretch  his  legs.  It  would  seem,  indeed,  as  though  the 
Chinese  had  studied  these  latter  and  knew  exactly  how 
to  dispose  of  them  in  the  smallest  possible  space.  His 
ideal  seems,  indeed,  to  have  been  a  carpenter's  rule 
that  can  be  folded  up.  When  he  sits  down  he  doubles 
them  up  very  much  like  that,  with  his  knees  verging 
towards  his  body,  retaining  them  in  their  constrained 
position  by  keeping  his  arms  tightly  entwined  around 
them. 

Five  minutes  of  this  would  weary  an  Englishman, 
but  the  Chinese  sits  there  with  as  much  content  upon 
his  face  as  though  he  had  at  last  attained  the  ideal 
posture  where  supreme  comfort  was  to  be  enjoyed. 
He  will  continue  in  this  same  position  for  any  length 
of  time,  without  any  apparent  weariness  or  need  of 
change.  When  it  is  nearly  mealtime  one  of  the  number 
is  detailed  to  act  as  cook.  The  first  thing  he  does  is 
to  take  off  what  seems  to  be  the  lid  of  a  box  about 
a  foot  and  a  half  square  that  lies  unconsidered  on  the 
deck.  It  is  now  discovered  to  be  a  miniature  kitchen, 
with  a  small  furnace  and  rice-pan  all  ready  for  cooking 
either  the  simple  meal  of  these  boatmen  or  the  more 
elaborate  one  demanded  by  the  passengers. 

When  everything  is  ready  and  a  huge  jar  of  smoking 
rice  is  placed  on  the  middle  of  the  deck,  with  bowls 
and  chopsticks  arranged  temptingly  around  it,  the  call 
shouted  out  **  Come,  eat  !  "  brings  the  men  trooping 
aft,  where  they  arrange  themselves  in  a  circle  around 


RIVER  LIFE  IN  CHINA  241 

the  jar.  The  first  position  they  all  naturally  adopt 
is  the  popular  one  of  sitting  on  their  heels,  but  as  they 
proceed  with  the  meal  some,  tired  with  this  grotesque 
attitude,  sit  on  the  deck  with  their  legs  cocked  up 
carpenter-rule -like  in  a  perpendicular  form.  This  is 
the  only  alternative  pose  they  can  take,  for  there  is 
no  room  to  stretch  them  out,  but  with  the  cuteness  of 
the  Celestial  they  proceed  at  once  to  utilise  them  for 
immediate  use.  At  one  moment  they  are  used  as  a 
rest  for  the  weary  arm  that  holds  the  bowlful  of  rice, 
whilst  at  another  they  act  as  an  impromptu  table  on 
which  they  can  place  their  arms  when  the  necessities 
of  conversation  cause  them  to  stay  the  shovelling  of 
rice  down  their  throats. 

Looking  at  the  merry  group  before  one  and  the 
natural  and  easy-looking  pose  that  each  one  has 
assumed,  one  would  never  dream  that  the  posture  they 
have  adopted  is  one  of  the  most  tiring  and  uncomfort- 
able it  is  possible  to  imagine.  They  seem,  indeed, 
to  be  in  the  very  height  of  bliss,  and  smiles  wreathe 
their  faces  and  jokes  fly  round  the  circle  till  the  great 
jar  lies  cold  and  empty,  when  each  one  having  rinsed 
his  rice -bowl  and  chopsticks  in  the  flowing  river  and 
turned  them  upside  down  to  dry  on  a  secure  corner 
of  the  deck,  they  return  to  their  several  duties. 

The  work  goes  on  steadily  now  until  sunset,  when, 
having  reached  some  recognised  anchorage  where  boats 
usually  anchor  for  the  night,  they  take  up  a  position 
close  to  numbers  of  others,  who  for  the  sake  of 
mutual  protection  against  robbers  make  their  rendezvous 
at  certain  safe  and  well -protected  places  on  the  river. 
As  they  are  doing  this  darkness  seems  to  rise  up  out 
of  the  earth  and  from  the  bases  of  the  hills  as  though 
a  new  force  had  come  to  defy  the  light.  The  shadows 
creep  across  the  country,  and  with  silent  tread  wind 
along  the  river  and  blot  out  the  banks  and  the  trees. 
The  men  gather  once  more  around  the  smoking  jar  in 
the  same  intolerable  and  grotesque  attitudes,  not  daring 
to  stretch  a  foot  lest  they  should  knock  over  their; 
evening  meal.  When  that  has  been  dispatched  and 
the  bowls  washed  in  the  water  that  ripples  against  the 
boat  and  sings  its  evening  song  the  men  light  their 
pipes  and  sit  up  against  the  bulwarks,  their  legs  still 

16 


242    MEN  AND  MANNERS   OF  MODERN  CHINA 

drawn  up  and  their  knees  at  right  angles  to  their  chins. 
The  Chinese  was  never  intended  by  Nature  to  lounge, 
or  stretch  himself  on  sofas,  or  indulge  his  wearied 
body  in  the  simplest  luxury.  He  knows  better  than  to 
expect  anything  of  that  kind,  and  so  he  is  content  with 
what  to  us  would  be  misery.  By  and  by  the  men 
become  drowsy,  the  day's  work  has  been  a  toilsome  one, 
and  besides,  to-morrow  morning,  in  the  dimmest  of 
twilight,  the  anchor  will  be  lifted  and  the  boat  will 
start  on  its  onward  journey.  But  where  shall  the  men 
sleep?  There  is  not  the  remotest  sign  of  any  place 
where  they  can  be  accommodated,  yet  wait  a  moment 
and  the  mystery  will  be  solved.  Two  or  three  planks 
are  taken  up  from  the  deck  and  a  dark  recess  is  revealed, 
where  the  bedroom  lies  concealed.  It  is  about  three 
feet  deep,  shelving  up  on  each  side  to  two.  One  by 
one  the  men  gradually  drop  into  the  opening  and  dis- 
appear. It  is  a  case  of  sardines  in  a  tin,  heads  and 
heels  so  adjusted  as  to  pack  with  the  least  loss  of  space. 

The  captain  remains  to  the  last  and,  with  a  loud 
yawn  and  a  rapid  look  at  the  river  and  then  at  his  boat 
to  see  that  everything  is  all  right,  he  slowly  dives  into 
a  narrow  opening  in  the  bow  that  looks  very  like  the 
mouth  of  a  moderate -sized  box,  curls  himself  round  in 
it  like  a  snail  in  his  shell,  and  in  a  moment  his  loud 
snores  show  that  the  scenes  of  this  world  have  vanished 
from  his  gaze.  It  does  not  matter  that  during  the 
livelong  night  he  cannot  stretch  himself,  or,  indeed, 
change  his  position.  The  Chinese  knows  how  to  enjoy 
comfort  as  much  as  any  one  in  the  world,  but  let  him 
be  placed  where  the  utmost  discomfort  is  demanded 
from  him,  and  he  will  adapt  himself  to  his  surroundings 
just  as  though  he  had  been  bred  and  born  in  them. 

During  the  night  the  air  grows  cold,  and  a  chill 
breeze  blows  along  the  river.  Some  one  of  the  men 
in  the  sardine-tin  below  wakes  with  a  shivery  feeling. 
He  rises  and  places  the  planks  over  the  opening,  and 
now  the  fine,  brawny  fellows  are  cut  off  from  the  air 
outside.  In  a  few  minutes  it  must  be  perfectly  stifling 
and  the  air  hot  and  vitiated  in  this  limited  space  below. 
An  Occidental  would  be  tortured  in  this  foul  atmosphere, 
and  would  rise  and  madly  dash  away  the  planks  that 
were    bringing    suffocation    upon    him.     The    Chinese 


RIVER  LIFE  IN  CHINA  243 

sleeps  as  calmly  and  rises  the  next  morning  as  re- 
freshed as  though  every  sanitary  condition  had  been 
complied  with. 

The  example  given  above  belongs  rather  to  what  may 
be  called  the  aristocracy  of  river  life.  Happy  indeed 
would  be  the  men  and  women  who  have  to  spend  their 
days  upon  the  water  had  they  all  such  comparatively 
spacious  castles  as  the  one  I  have  described  in  which 
to  make  their  home.  A  very  large  section  has  to  be 
content  with  much  narrower  quarters,  and  this  a.pplies 
especially  to  the  poorer  classes,  who  have  to  earn  their 
daily  bread  and  who  have  but  a  very  slender  capital 
with  which  to  invest  in  a  boat. 

In  my  various  journeys  on  the  rivers,  I  have  often 
been  deeply  interested  in  watching  the  home  life  of  the 
poorer  fishermen  that  throng  the  inland  waters  and 
streams  where  fish  are  to  be  caught.  The  evening 
draws  nigh,  and  from  far  and  near  these  tiny  boats 
may  be  seen  making  their  way  to  their  nightly  anchor- 
age. They  fasten  up  close  to  where  mine  is  lying, 
so  I  can  see  every  detail  that  goes  on  in  them.  They 
are  usually  about  twelve  feet  in  length  and  fashioned 
very  much  as  the  larger  ones  are.  The  centre  is 
covered  in  with  a  strong  mat -shed,  as  is  also  the  stem 
where  the  steerer  stands,  and  where  the  oars  are  worked 
when  engaged  in  fishing.  The  bow  is  an  open  space 
from  which  the  nets  are  cast  and  where  the  family 
take  their  recreation  when  they  are  not  employed  in 
their  calling. 

The  family  in  the  boat  close  by  consists  of  a  man  and 
his  wife,  his  grown-up  son  and  his  wife,  and  their  two 
little  children.  They  evidently  do  not  consider  them- 
selves cramped,  for,  right  at  the  end  of  the  bow,  a  small 
pig  is  being  reared  that  seems  perfectly  contented  with 
its  narrow  quarters.  The  youngest  child,  who  is  just 
beginning  to  toddle  about,  evidently  has  a  desire  to  go 
on  exploring  expeditions,  for  I  notice  that  a  string'  is 
fastened  to  one  of  his  legs  so  that  in  case  he  should 
fall  overboard  he  can  at  once  be  fished  up  and  saved 
from  drowning.  Now,  this  family  has  never  known  any 
home  but  this.  Twenty-five  years  ago  the  father 
brought  his  young  bride  home  from  another  boat  on 
which  she  had  been  reared,  for  no  shore -bred  girl  would 


244    MEN  AND  MANNERS   OF  MODERN   CHINA 

ever  dream  of  consenting  to  be  his  wife.  The  boat 
has  been  renewed  several  times,  but  the  home  is  the 
same.  Children  have  been  born  to  them  and  the  girls 
have  become  the  wives  of  fishermen.  The  only  son 
remains  to  be  the  heir  of  the  family  and  the  one  on 
whom  its  responsibilities  will  fall  when  the  old  people 
are  carried  to  their  long  home  on  shore. 

The  fact  that  they  have  so  little  space  in  which  to 
move  about  does  not  seem  to  trouble  them  at  all. 
Whether  standing  or  sitting,  each  one  occupies  the  space 
only  that  stern  necessity  demands.  When  they  are 
tired  of  standing,  they  gracefully  subside  on  their  heels. 
They  are  a  cheery,  contented  people,  full  of  human 
nature,  and  sociable  in  the  extreme.  I  make  a  remark 
to  the  men  and  at  once  their  faces  beam,  and  they  lay 
themselves  out  to  be  agreeable.  The  women^,  though 
at  first  more  shy  than  their  husbands,  soon  lose  their 
restraint  and  chat  and  talk  with  us  in  the  most  friendly 
and  unrestrained  manner.  In  another  boat  that  lay  a 
little  farther  off  I  noticed  a  profound  stillness  ;  all  life 
seemed  to  have  vanished  from  her.  "  What  is  the  reason 
there  is  so  little  life  on  that  boat?  "  I  asked  of  my 
friends.  In  a  whisper  that  could  hardly  be  heard  I 
was  informed  that  the  wife  had  died  only  a  few  hours 
before,  and  the  husband,  sorrow -stricken,  was  lying 
down  heart-broken  beside  the  one  that  death  had 
carried   off. 

The  Chinese  are  most  expert  boat -builders  and  have 
shown  this  in  the  way  in  which  they  have  designed  and 
built  just  the  very  kind  of  craft  that  is  best  adapted 
for  the  particular  service  required  of  it.  One  of  the 
most  interesting  specimens  to  be  met  with  on  the  rivers 
is  the  rapid  boat.  This  has  been  constructed  with  a 
special  view  to  the  dangers  that  boats  are  liable  to 
when  shooting  the  rapids  that  sometimes  exist  in  rivers 
in  mountainous  districts.  It  is  a  perfect  masterpiece 
of  invention,  and  carries  its  passengers  and  cargo  with 
wonderful  safety  down  the  great  shelving  river  that 
pours  its  waters  over  black  rocks  and  against  sharp 
projecting  headlands  with  a  rush  and  a  roar  to  the  plain, 
miles  and  miles  away  in  the  distance. 

Its  planks,  instead  of  being  stiff  and  massive,  are  lithe 
and  supple,  and  so  bound  together  that  they  yield  and 


RIVER  LIFE  IN  CHINA  245 

give  as  the  boat  meets  the  rush  of  waters  or  turns  almost 
at  right  angles  to  avoid  some  threatening  obstruction 
that  lies  in  the  very  fairway  of  the  river.  One  of  the 
most  conspicuous  features  about  it  is  the  huge  oar  that 
runs  almost  the  entire  length  of  the  boat.  Upon  this 
the  safety  of  the  craft  may  be  said  to  depend,  for  it 
acts  not  only  as  a  rudder  when  the  course  is  straight, 
but  also  as  a  powerful  lever  by  which,  with  a  single 
swing,  it  wrenches  round  the  boat  in  some  critical 
moment  and  saves  it  from  being  dashed  upon  the  cruel 
rocks  ahead. 

A  voyage  down  one  of  these  rapids  is  a  most  exciting 
and  thrilling  experience.  Every  other  thought  that  has 
absorbed  the  mind  before  vanishes  at  the  sight  of 
dangers  that  rise  in  quick  succession  in  the  mad  rush 
down  these  magnificent  gorges.  The  first  sensation 
is  one  of  absolute  helplessness,  for  there  is  no  turning 
back  when  once  the  boat  has  been  fully  caught  in  the 
grip  of  a  current  that  knows  no  restraint.  The  men  in 
charge  of  the  boat  are  evidently  impressed  with  the 
seriousness  of  the  job  they  have  in  hand.  The  captain 
gazes  with  an  intense  look  down  the  great  avalanche 
of  seething  waters,  whilst  a  man,  who  might  be  really 
called  the  pilot,  stands  at  the  extreme  end  of  the  bow 
with  a  long  pole  ready  poised  to  act  at  a  moment's 
notice. 

There  is  extreme  tension  amongst  both  passengers 
and  crew  as  the  boat  gains  momentum,  and  the  more 
timid  amongst  the  former  have  a  pale  and  nervous 
look  that  shows  how  much  they  are  affected  by  the  peril 
in  which  they  believe  themselves  to  be. 

And,  indeed,  the  circumstances  are  such  as  to  induce 
a  certain  amount  of  awe.  The  river  flows  down  with  a 
mighty  rush,  whilst  the  pine-covered,  precipitous  banks 
of  the  lofty  hills  seems  to  be  flying  terror-stricken  in 
the  opposite  direction.  All  at  once  a  jagged-looking 
rock,  around  which  the  tide  froths  and  foams,  appears 
in  the  very  line  the  boat  is  being  steered.  It  is  dis- 
tinctly visible,  and  yet  the  captain  keeps  on  his  course, 
as  though  he  did  not  see  it.  Every  one  holds  his 
breath  and  trembles  as  he  thinks  of  the  crash  and 
the  instant  destruction  of  the  boat  when  it  dashes  on  the 
rock  that  seems  flying  upstream  to  meet  it.   There  would 


246    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

be  a  panic  were  it  not  that  the  captain  stands  like  a 
carved  statue,  unmoved,  with  his  black,  piercing  eyes 
fixed  with  an  intensity  of  gaze  upon  the  sinister  object 
ahead.  And  still  the  boat  moves  on  ;  the  banks  seem 
to  fly  faster  and  the  hills  look  on  with  silent  terror  at 
tlie  catastrophe  that  is  about  to  happen,  when,  just 
as  she  is  within  a  few  feet  of  the  rock,  the  man  in  the 
bow  swiftly  darts  out  his  pole  and  with  strong  thrust 
diverts  her  course.  In  an  instant  almost  she  is  career- 
ing on  in  safety  with  the  danger  slowly  disappearing 
astern. 

Every  one  breathes  a  sigh  of  relief,  the  passengers* 
faces  relax  in  smiles  and  even  the  captain  lights  his  long 
bamboo  pipe  and  draws  a  few  whiffs  from  it,  but  all  the 
time  his  eyes  are  fixed  upon  the  stream.  The  danger 
is  by  no  means  over,  for  though  the  river  is  broad  the 
pathway  for  the  boats  is  narrow,  and  broken  water  and 
sudden  jets  of  spray  show  that  under  the  placid  face 
of  the  swift-rushing  torrent  are  rocks  that  would  wreck 
any  boat  that  touches  them.  An  hour  or  so  passes 
delightfully  and  the  boat  glides  like  a  dream  past  banks 
that  are  covered  with  feathery  bamboos,  around  head- 
lands on  which  stately  trees  stand  as  sentinels,  and  by 
hamlets  coyly  showing  their  houses  from  the  midst 
of  pines  and  banyans.  It  is  a  very  poem  of  travel, 
for  the  scenery  is  grand  and  the  changes  rapid,  and 
there  is  besides  the  sense  of  rapid  motion  that  has  such 
an  exhilarating  effect  on  the  mind. 

All  at  once  the  dream  is  broken  into  and  the  danger 
of  navigation  is  once  more  forced  upon  the  minds  of 
all.  The  captain  once  more  stands  alert  with  a  stern 
and  anxious  look  upon  his  face,  whilst  the  bowman 
with  pole  in  hand  takes  his  place  ready  for  the  work 
that  he  will  soon  have  to  perform.  A  turn  in  the  river 
reveals  to  us  a  sight  that  sends  a  tremor  throbbing 
through  our  hearts.  Scattered  across  the  surface  of 
the  river  is  a  perfect  shoal  of  rocks  that  seem  to  bar 
all  passage  through  them. 

The  stream  just  here  is  at  its  maddest,  for  this  is  one 
of  the  strongest  of  the  many  rapids  down  which  the 
waters  rush  and  roar  in  their  passage  to  the  plain 
at  the  foot  of  the  mountains.  There  seems  to  be  no 
passage  through  these  black,  cruel  rocks  against  which 


RIVER  LIFE  IN  CHINA  247 

the  waters  are  being  hurled.  As  we  rush  on  we  catch 
sight  of  the  foam  that  encircles  each,  and  imagine  the 
roar  of  the  breaking  waters  upon  them.  The  pro- 
foundest  silence  reigns,  and  only  the  beating  of  one's 
heart  is  heard.  As  we  come  nearer  we  perceive  a 
kind  of  opening  between  two  of  the  large  groups  of 
rocks,  but  however  is  the  boat  to  be  so  turned  and 
manoeuvred  that  we  shall  escape  being'  dashed  upon  the 
lower  ones? 

The  supreme  moment  "has  come  when  this  is  to  be 
decided.  When  we  are  almost  upon  them  the  bowman 
thrusts  out  his  long  pole,  the  men  who  are  handling 
the  huge  oar  give  it  a  mighty  swing,  and  instantly 
the  boat  is  turned  as  though  on  a  pivot  and,  rushing 
through  the  narrow  pathway,  she  emerges  into  safety. 
Once  more  we  are  flying  down  the  rapids,  and  ere 
long  we  find  ourselves  in  a  long  and  even  reach  where 
the  current  is  less  strong. 

And  so  rapid  after  rapid  is  passed,  some  of  which  are 
so  steep  that  the  water  races  down  them  like  a  mill 
stream,  and  others  so  gentle  in  their  decline  that  we 
can  only  tell  we  are  passing  them  by  the  quickened 
motion  of  the  stream.  Finally,  we  dash  through  the 
last  one  and  find  ourselves  in  smooth  water.  We 
breathe  a  sigh  of  content  as  we  look  back  over  the 
turbulent  reaches  in  the  distance,  and  are  thankful  to 
have  come  safely  through  them  to  the  end  of  our 
adventurous  journey. 


CHAPTER    XIX 
HOME   AND    FAMILY    LIFE 

The  Chinese  are  a  thoroughly  domesticated  people  and 
have  a  great  affection  for  their  home.  It  would  seem, 
indeed,  as  though  their  love  for  that  had  left  no  room 
for  patriotism  in  their  hearts.  The  enthusiasm  that  an 
Englishman  has  for  his  country,  and  his  readiness  to 
suffer  and  die  for  it,  are  sentiments  that  are  unknown  to 
a  Chinese.  His  whole  devotion  and  affection  are 
centred  in  his  home.  He  is  quite  content  to  spend  his 
life  in  it.  From  childhood  to  old  age  he  is  willing 
to  remain  in  the  spot  where  it  is,  amongst  the  same 
neighbours  and  in  the  midst  of  the  same  surroundings. 
If  necessity  should  compel  him  to  go  abroad,  his  heart 
is  always  in  the  old  home,  and  during  the  months  or  the 
years  that  he  may  be  absent  from  it  he  never  falters  in 
his  fixed  purpose  to  return  to  it  as  soon  as  circum- 
stances will  allow  him, 

I  once  became  acquainted  with  a  Chinese  who  had 
lived  in  Australia  for  twenty -five  years.  He  had 
prospered  in  business,  had  married  an  Irish  wife  and 
had  three  strapping  daughters,  with  Milesian  noses  and 
languishing,  almond-shaped  eyes.  One  day  he  informed 
his  family  that  the  home  hunger  was  upon  him  and  that 
he  was  going  to  return  to  the  land  of  roast  pig  and 
birds '-nest  soup,  so,  with  a  keen  sense  of  justice,  he 
handed  over  his  shop  and  a  certain  amount  of  ready 
money  to  his  wife  that  if  rightly  managed  would  enable 
her  to  live  in  comfort  for  many  years  to  come.  He 
then  bade  them  goodbye  for  ever  and  started  off  with  a 
light  heart  for  his  far-off  home,  in  an  insignificant 
broken -down -looking  village  by  the  sea,  where  the  con- 
ditions of  life  were  dreary  in  the  extreme.  When  he 
reached  it  he  seemed  to  take  up  his  life  at  the  point 


I    ,1  I  .  ,  I      I     .   "■■    '"T  "     11  n"   Tfi    iT'imi 


A   BRIDE    ON    HER   WAY   TO    BK    MARRIED. 


WOMEN    WITH    "GOLDEN    LILIES. 


To  face  p.  249. 


,.-j^._. 


HOME  AND  FAMILY  LIFE  249 

from  which  he  had  parted  with  it  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago.  It  was  easy  for  him  to  do  this,  for  during  all  that 
time  the  vision  that  had  floated  before  his  mind,  and 
that  had  given  it  the  one  bit  of  romance  he  e^^er  had, 
was  the  squalid  home  that  looked  out  on  the  dreary 
sands  and  mud  flats  that  stretched  out  in  front  of  it. 

That  the  homes  of  the  Chinese  in  the  great  majority 
of  instances  are  bound  together  by  genuine  love  and 
afl"ection  I  am  firmly  convinced,  though  from  an  English 
point  of  view  this  would  seem  impossible.  The  young 
people  who  are  commencing  their  married  life  have 
never  seen  each  other  till  the  day  when  the  bride, 
carried  in  solemn  state  in  the  crimson  sedan-chair,  is 
ushered,  a  complete  stranger,  into  the  family  where  she 
is  to  spend  her  life.  There  has  been  no  love-making, 
no  letters  in  which  vows  have  been  made  and  the 
language  of  love  ransacked  in  order  to  get  the  choicest 
phrases  in  which  to  express  the  devotion  of  their 
hearts.  There  has  been  no  visiting  of  the  families 
to  get  better  acquainted  with  each  other,  and  to  learn 
whether  the  proposed  alliance  is  a  suitable  one  or  not. 
The  whole  affair,  in  which  is  involved  the  happiness  of 
the  two  people  most  concerned,  is  left  to  the  middle - 
woman,  a  person  whose  reputation  for  truthfulness  is 
known  to  be  bad,  and  whose  sole  aim  is  to  get  the 
marriage  preliminaries  settled  so  that  she  may  pocket 
her  fees  and  perquisites. 

The  bride  leaves  her  mother's  side  in  tears,  solitary 
and  alone,  for  neither  father  nor  mother  may  accom- 
pany her  on  the  road  that  separates  her  for  ever,  for 
weal  or  woe,  from  the  home  of  her  childhood.  She 
travels  to  her  new  home  her  heart  filled  with  doubts 
and  fears,  wondering  what  kind  of  a  mother-in-law  she 
is  going  to  meet,  and  what  sort  of  a  man  her  husband 
is;  whilst  he,  with  his  heart  beating  with  an  emotion 
that  he  must  not  let  any  one  dream  of,  is  waiting  for 
the  coming  of  a  bride  who  may  either  fill  his  home 
with  an  endless  joy  or  cloud  it  with  sorrow  and  dis- 
appointment . 

I  have  seen  a  bride  when  she  has  first  crossed 
the  threshold  of  her  new  home  and  have  felt  that 
the  ordeal  she  had  to  pass  through  was  a  most 
trying  one.      Not  a  word  of  welcome  greeted  her   as 


250    MEN  AND  MANNERS   OF  MODERN  CHINA 

she  entered  and  met  the  critical  gaze  of  the  groups 
who  strained  their  eyes  to  see  what  kind  of  a  woman 
she  was.  No  hands  were  outstretched,  and  no  loving 
arms  were  wound  around  her.  The  bridegroom,  it  is 
true,  met  her  at  the  door,  but  without  a  smile  or  a 
word.  He  did  not  dare  to  touch  her  hand  as  he  led 
her  into  the  bridal  chamber,  but  slightly  catching  hold 
of  the  sleeves  of  her  dress  with  the  tips  of  his  finger 
and  thumb,  as  though  it  were  infected  with  the  plague, 
he  turned  his  face  away  from  her,  and  put  on  the  air  of 
a  man  who  was  absolutely  bored  by  this  little  ceremony 
that  etiquette  compelled  him  to  perform.  On  such 
an  occasion  as  this  the  newly-married  couple  see  each 
other  for  the  first  time,  and  in  the  swift  and  lightning 
glances  they  take  at  each  other  they  try  and  conceive 
what  the  future  has  in  store  for  them.  The  young 
couple  have  none  of  the  pleasurable  excitement  always 
connected  with  us  with  the  wedding-day.  There  is 
no  wedding  breakfast,  no  trooping  of  friends  to  see 
the  happy  pair  off  on  their  wedding  tour,  no  throwing  of 
old  slippers  or  showering  of  rice,  and  on  coming  home 
after  the  honeymoon  to  their  own  hpuse,  where  they 
shall  set  up  for  themselves.  Such  a  thing  is  never  done 
in  China.  No  matter  how  many  sons  there  may  be 
in  a  family,  they  all  bring  their  brides  to  the  old 
homestead  where  they  have  been  reared,  and  the  mother 
and  father  remain  the  heads  just  as  when  their 
children  were  small. 

It  is  this  singular  custom  that  is  at  the  root  of  a  great 
deal  of  the  suffering  that  young  married  women  have 
undoubtedly  to  endure  in  China.  The  mother-in-law 
is  just  as  dreaded  a  power  in  this  land  as  she  is  in 
some  of  the  Western  ones,  but  it  is  the  daughter-in-law 
who  is  the  sufferer.  From  the  moment  that  the  bride 
enters  her  home  she  is  under  her  authority,  and,  if  the 
latter  happens  to  have  a  temper,  the  poor  girl  may 
reckon  that  for  some  years  to  come  her  lot  will  not  be 
an  easy  one.  No  matter  how  ill-treated  or  persecuted 
she  may  be,  she  dare  not  appeal  to  her  husband  for 
redress.  Although  his  heart  may  bleed  for  his  wife, 
and  he  may  be  indignant  at  the  cruelty  with  which  her 
life  is  made  wretched,  he  must  not  utter  a  syllable  in 
her  defence,  nor  show  by  any  signs  that  he  thinks  his 


HOME  AND  FAMILY  LIFE  251 

mother  wrong.  To  do  so  would  only  arouse  the  fiercest 
passions  against  the  unhappy  girl,  and  cause  her  lot  to 
be  made  bitter  and  intolerable.  It  would,  moreover, 
excite  the  indignation  of  his  parents  and  of  the  neigh- 
bours, who  would  taunt  him  with  being  unfilial,  a 
reproach  that  has  a  nameless  terror  from  which  every 
man  shrinks  in  this  country.  This  custom  of  keeping 
the  families  together  is  a  very  ancient  one,  and 
instances  abound  in  the  better  class  of  society  where 
hundreds  of  people  constitute  one  great  household 
who  live  in  patriarchal  style  and  never  so  much  as 
dream  of  setting  up  separate  establishments  of  their 
own. 

History  records  the  name  of  one  famous  home  that 
numbered  several  thousands  of  people.  They  were 
the  children  of  nine  generations,  and  though  so 
numerous  the  story  got  abroad  that  the  most  absolute 
and  perfect  harmony  existed  among  them  all.  No  one 
ever  quarrelled  ;  the  women  never  had  any  jealousies  ; 
the  children  never  showed  temper  with  each  other,  or 
wanted  to  grab  each  other's  toys  ;  and  even  the  very 
dogs,  touched  by  the  mysterious  influences  that  reigned 
as  an  atmosphere  over  the  place,  had  laid  aside  their 
natural  instincts  and  would  quietly,  and  with  a  wag  of 
the  tail,  look  on  complacently  whilst  another  was 
indulging  in  the  luxury  of  a  bone,  without  any  attempt 
to  take  it  from  him. 

The  rumour  of  this  reached  the  palace  of  the  Emperor 
and  in  one  of  his  tours  to  the  sacred  mountain  Tai,  on 
the  top  of  which  he  annually  worshipped  God,  he  de- 
termined to  call  on  this  famous  household  and  see  for 
himself  whether  the  reports  that  had  travelled  through 
the  country  were  true  or  not.  He  was  highly  pleased 
with  what  he  saw,  and  from  a  careful  examination  he 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  Fame  had  not  exaggerated 
these  stories  she  had  told  about  this  model  home. 
Sitting  chatting  with  the  man  who  was  recognised  as 
the  head  of  the  establishment,  he  asked  him  to  explain 
to  him  the  secret  of  the  concord  and  harmony  which 
prevailed  amongst  the  people  under  his  control.  Taking 
a  sheet  of  paper,  the  chief  began  to  write  out  rapidly 
character  after  character  until  he  had  written  a  hundred. 
Handing  it  to  the  Emperor,   he  said,   *'  Your  Majesty 


252    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

will  find  in  these  words  a  sufficient  reason  why  quarrels 
are  utterly  unknown  amongst  us." 

The  Emperor  began  to  read,  but  he  soon  discovered 
that  the  whole  consisted  of  one  word  repeated  a 
hundred  times,  and  that  word  was  **  forbearance.** 
**  We  train  ourselves,"  said  the  patriarch  of  this  truly 
royal  home,  "to  be  patient  with  each  other  in  a 
hundred  different  ways,  to  school  ourselves  not  to 
lose  our  tempers,  but  to  bear  with  one  another.  Even 
the  very  children  are  taught,  from  the  earliest  moment 
they  can  understand,  to  restrain  their  tempers.  The 
result  is  the  good  feeling  and  sympathy  for  each  other 
that  has  made  us  famous." 

The  lot  of  the  young  married  couple  depends  very 
largely  upon  the  character  of  the  mother-in-law.  If 
she  is  naturally  good-tempered  and  easy-going,  then 
things  in  the  home  will  go  smoothly  and  the  lives 
of  all  will  be  happy  and  contented.  If,  however,  she 
is  strong-minded,  and  has  an  imperious  will,  it  may 
be  safe  to  predict  that  the  daughter-in-law  will  be 
made  to  feel  she  is  by  no  means  mistress  in  her  own 
home.  If  in  time  she  should  be  fortunate  enough  to 
have  a  son,  her  lot  will  at  once  be  greatly  improved,  for 
with  his  coming  she  attains  a  certain  dignity  that  she 
never  loses,  and  though  she  is  still  under  the  same 
stern  rule,  a  modified  spirit  of  independence  was  born 
at  the  same  time  that  the  heir  appeared  in  the  home. 

There  is  something  specially  attractive  to  the  Oriental 
mind  about  the  idea  of  a  son.  He  is  the  longing  of 
the  father,  the  ideal  of  the  mother,  and  the  pride  of 
his  grandfather  and  grandmother.  Around  him  gather 
all  the  sentiment,  poetry,  and  ambition  that  the  Chinese 
heart  is  capable  of.  He  is  a  possible  glory  to  the 
family,!  and  in  the  future  he  may  be  enrolled  among 
the  scholars  of  the  country,  wealth  and  honours  may  be 
showered  upon  him,  and  through  him  his  family  be 
placed  amongst  the  aristocracy  of  the  land. 

Should  these  brilliant  dreams,  however,  fail  to  be 
realised,  there  is  one  thing  reserved  for  him  that  he  will 
have  the  supreme  right  to  do,  and  that  is  to  become  the 
high  priest  of  the  family.     When  death  has  come  into 

^  See  Macgowan's  "  Imperial  History  of  China  "  for  a  full  account 
of  this. 


HOME  AND  FAMILY  LIFE  253 

the  home  and  father  or  mother  has  been  taken  away,  it 
is  he  who  will  stand  on  the  borders  of  the  invisible 
world  and  make  the  offerings  that  men  believe  will  reach 
the  beloved  ones  in  the  *'  Land  of  Shadows  "  beyond, 
to  ease  the  pain  and  bitterness  that  are  the  lot  of  men 
in  that  unknown  land.  The  shadows  of  the  other 
world  lie  heavily  on  the  imagination  in  this,  and  is 
it  any  wonder  that  men  long  for  sons,  since  they  believe 
that  they  can  only  be  lifted  by  those  that  are  born  to 
them  here? 

Should,  however^  the  young  wife  '  be  so  unlucky  as 
to  have  a  daughter,  then  only  too  often  her  sorrows 
will  be  aggravated,  as  she  will  fall,  not  only  in  the 
estimation  of  her  haughty  mother-in-law,  but  also  in 
her  own,  and  it  may  possibly  be  in  that  of  her  husband 
as  well.  They  have  all  been  looking  for  a  son.  They 
have  planned  for  him,  and  forecast  his  future,  and 
determined  what  he  shall  do  so  often,  that  they  have  all 
come  to  believe  that  the  child  must  be  a  son,  and  now 
after  all  it  is  only  a  daughter  I 

The  mother  weeps  and  refuses  to  look  at  the  little 
one.  The  mother-in-law  is  furious  and  scornful,  and 
even  the  husband,  though  his  love  for  his  wife  may 
restrain  him  from  expressions  that  might  add  to  her 
pain,  is  gloomy  and  discontented.  The  neighbours, 
who  have  been  prepared  to  give  a  royal  welcome  to 
the  son,  now  speak  in  whispers  to  each  other  and  refrain 
from  adding  to  the  shame  of  the  family  by  any  attempts 
at  congratulation.  When  it  is  known  in  the  home  that 
the  baby  that  is  born  is  a  girl,  a  shock  is  felt  that 
vibrates  throughout  every  member  of  the  family,  and  it 
is  at  this  precise  moment  that  it  is  impossible  to  say 
what  may  happen  to  the  poor  little  mite  that  has  so 
disappointed  the  hopes  of  those  who  had  been  looking 
for  a  son.  She  may  at  once  be  put  to  death  by  some 
member  of  the  family,  or  she  may  be  pitched  out  into 
the  courtyard  in  front  of  the  house  and  be  left  to  perish, 
or,  perhaps,  some  neighbour,  whp  has  a  young  son, 
comes  in  and  begs  the  child,  which  she  will  rear  up  with 
him  and  make  him  his  wife  in  the  future.  Should  there 
be  any  delay  in  thus  disposing  of  the  baby,  the  chances 
are  all  in  favour  that  her  life  will  be  preserved,  and  that 
she  will  be  accepted  as  a  member  of  the  family.     After 


254  MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

a  few  hours  have  elapsed,  and  bitter  tears  have  been 
shed  and  her  bad  fortune  has  been  bewailed,  the 
mother  takes  the  little  thing  to  her  heart,  and  the 
mother-love,  that  seemed  dead,  springs  up.  As  she 
looks  into  the  little  face  and  feels  her  clinging  to  her 
breast,  a  wave  of  tenderness  passes  over  her  and, 
though  she  never  loves  a  daughter  as  she  would  a 
son.  Nature  asserts  her  power  over  her  and  causes  love 
to  grow  for  the  little  one. 

Let  us  now  suppose  that  some  years  have  elapsed  since 
the  youthful  bride,  solitary  and  with  her  heart  full  of 
anxiety,  stepped  into  her  new  home,  every  face  strange 
to  her  and  with  not  a  word  of  welcome  to  greet  her. 
She  has  now  several  sons  and  one  or  two  daughters,  and 
her  mother-in-law  is  still  there  ;  but  though  her  word 
is  still  law,  new  forces  have  come  into  the  home  that 
have  helped  to  break  the  tyranny  of  those  early  days, 
when  tears  and  sighs  played  their  part  in  her  life. 

The  boys  are  at  school  preparing  for  the  future.  The 
eldest  is  to  be  a  scholar,  and  the  mother  looks  upon  him 
with  kindling  eyes  and  glowing  face,  very  much  as  an 
English  mother  would,  for  he  promises  to  do  honour 
to  the  family.  The  second  is  still  studying,  but  he 
has  no  love  for  books,  and  he  declares  that  he  has 
made  up  his  mind  to  be  a  business  man  and  that  he 
will  remain  at  school  only  as  long  as  will  enable  him 
to  read  and  write  such  a  letter  as  might  be  required  of 
him  in  the  office.  The  third  has  made  up  his  mind  to 
go  abroad  to  Singapore  and  live  with  an  uncle  there 
and  help  him  in  his  shop.  He  is  a  boy  overflowing 
with  animal  spirits.  If  there  is  any  mischief  going  on, 
he  is  sure  to  be  in  it.  He  is  the  life  of  the  whole 
family,  and  the  tease  too,  as  his  sisters  know  to  their 
cost  ;  but  the  mother  has  many  an  anxious  thought 
about  him,  and  she  fears  that  his  merry,  careless  dis- 
position may  lead  him  astray,  and  that  should  he  go 
abroad  he  may  never  return,  or,  if  he  do,  it  will  be 
like  the  prodigal  who  had  lost  all  in  that  far-off  land. 

And  so  the  father's  and  mother's  hearts  are  perplexed 
with  questions  about  their  children,  just  as  ours  are 
in  distant  England.  How  will  the  boys  turn  out?  Will 
they  fall  into  evil  ways  and  weave  wrinkles  into  the 
faces  of  their  parents  and  fill  their  hearts  with  sighs? 


HOME  AND  FAMILY  LIFE  255 

And  then,  too,  what  about  their  girls,  for  Nature  now  has 
gained  her  point,  and  the  passing  years  have  bound 
them  to  father  and  mother  with  a  love  that  comes 
nearly  up  to  that  they  have  for  the  boys.  Will  their 
new  homes  be  happy  ones?  Will  their  mothers-in-law 
oppress  them?  Will  their  husbands  be  good  and  true 
men,  or  will  they  be  opium-smokers  and  gamblers  and 
make  life  a  misery  to  them?  These  are  well-worn 
subjects  the  wide  world  over,  and  when  we  see  the 
fathers  and  mothers  of  this  yellow  race,  that  we  are  apt 
to  think  so  radically  different  from  the  rest  of  the  world, 
concerned  in  their  home  life  about  questions  that 
perplex  us,  we  accept  the  statement  that  **  God  has 
made  of  one  blood  all  the  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on 
all  the  face  of  the  earth  "  as  a  divinely  true  one. 

As  I  have  already  observed,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
husband  and  wife  in  the  great  majority  of  homes  in 
China  are  bound  to  each  other  by  genuine,  undoubted 
love.  At  first  sight  this  seems  difficult  to  be  believed. 
Not  only  do  the  young  people  never  catch  sight  of 
one  another  until  the  moment  that  they  stand  side  by 
side  as  man  and  wife  in  the  husband's  home,  but  it 
is  an  undoubted  fact  that  the  great  mass  of  the  women 
of  this  land  are  very  deficient  in  personal  charm. 
Fortunately,  good  looks  are  not  the  things  that  cause 
love  to  grow  in  a  man's  or  a  woman's  heart.  As  time 
goes  by,  other  forces  come  into  play  that  make  the 
plain  face  shine  with  a  beauty  of  its  oiwn  ;  and  soon 
the  hearts  are  knit  together  as  though  Cupid  himself 
had  twined  the  golden  chain  that  bound  them  in  a 
common  love. 

A  casual  observer  would  never  see  this.  He  would 
only  discover  that  husband  and  wife  seemed  singularly 
cold  to  each  other,  and  never  by  any  chance  could 
he  catch  a  single  endearment  falling  from  the  lips 
of  either  of  them.  One  day,  in  order  to  test  her,  a 
Chinese  lady  was  asked  by  an  English  girl  whether 
she  loved  her  husband.  The  question  startled  her. 
It  was  like  a  thunderbolt  out  of  a  clear  sky.  Her 
face  became  flushed.  She  hesitated  for  a  moment,  and 
then  she  promptly  rephed,  *'  No,  certainly  not."  The 
girl  knew  differently,  and,  being  very  intimate  with  her, 
at  last   drew   from   her   the   hesitating,    blushing   con- 


256    MEN  AND  MANNERS   OF  MODERN   CHINA 

fession  that  she  loved  him  with  all  her  heart.  Now, 
nothing  in  all  the  world  would  have  ever  induced  her 
to  have  said  this  to  one  of  her  awn  people*  She 
would  not  have  acknowledged  it  to  her  own  mother, 
and  wild  horses  could  not  have  dragged  this  secret 
from  her  heart  if  any,  other  Chinese  had  been  present. 
To  know  the  depth  of  a  woman's  love  for  her  husband, 
you  must  wait  until  he  has  been  taken  away  from 
her  by  death.  Come  then  and  stand  by  the  grave 
a  day  or  two  after  he  has  been  buried,  and  listen  to 
her  as  she  kneels  in  front  of  it,  and  amidst  her  tearsy 
her  sobs,  and  her  loud  lamentations  you  will  hear 
the  most  wonderful  confession  of  a  heart's  love  that 
can  be  put  into  human  language.  She  can  do  so  now 
without  a  word  of  reproach  from  any  one.  Listen  to. 
her  :  '*  Oh  I  my  heart,  my  love,  my  life,  where  are 
you  gone?  I  cannot  live  without  you.  My  home  is 
desolate,  and  darkness  is  over  my  heart.  Come  tOi 
me,  precious  one,  or  I  shall  die."  She  will  go  on  for 
an  hour  like  this,  pouring  out  the  great  tragedy  of 
her  life  in  the  language  of  most  impassioned  love, 
and  showing  by  her  skill  in  the  use  of  words  and 
phrases  that  describe  the  tenderest  feelings  of  the  heart 
how  profound  had  been  her  devotion  to  the  one  who 
had  been  torn  from  her  side. 

I  was  at  one  time  well  acquainted  with  a  middle- 
aged  couple,  for  whom  I  had  great  respect.  They  were 
quiet,  respectable  people,  about  as  far  removed  from 
sentiment,  apparently,  as  any  middle-aged  couple  could 
be.  They  were  both  exceedingly  plain,  if  not  actually 
ugly.  Not  a  line  of  beauty  could  be  traced  in  the 
countenances  of  either  of  them.  Their  life,  too,  was 
a  humdrum  one,  and  passed  in  a  rough,  coarse  village 
at  the  foot  of  a  range  of  mountains,  far  from  tjae  main 
road,  and  quite  removed  from  the  great  world  beyond, 
where  men's  hearts  and  brains  are  moved  by  thoughts 
that  never  penetrate  to  these  lonely  villages.  One  day 
the  husband  fell  ill  of  a  violent  fever,  and  in  three 
short  days  he  passed  away.  Then  was  revealed  what 
was  never  suspected  before.  That  plain-featured 
woman,  most  unattractive  in  speech,  without  a  single 
winning  manner  about  her,  had  all  the  time  been  having 
her  own  romance  ;    and  the  solemn -visaged  husband, 


HOME  AND  FAMILY  LIFE  257 

of  uncouth  speech  and  uncourtly  ways,  was  her  knight 
twho  had  wound  himself  around  her  heart  and  had  put 
music  into  her  life.  She  was  disconsolate  at  his  death, 
and  refused  utterly,  to  be  comforted.  Everything  in 
life  seemed  from  that  moment  to  have  lost  its  charm 
for  her.  The  one  for  whom  she  had  lived  had  vanished 
and  with  him  the  hold  that  life  had  had  upon  her  was 
gone.  Within  ten  days  she  had  died  of  a  broken  heart, 
leaving  her  two  children,  who  had  no  power  to  allure 
her  from  her  grief,  to  my  fatherly  care. 

That  there  are  unhappy  homes  in  China,  where 
husbands  and  wives  dispute  and  quarrel  with  each  other, 
I  do  not  doubt.  The  same  is  the  case  in  countries 
where  men  and  women  fall  in  love  and  willingly  marry 
each  other.  All  that  I  would  wish,  to  hold  is  that 
China  is  not  a  loveless  land,  where  a  stern  and  un- 
romantic  custom  drives  men  into  unions  that  are 
repulsive  to  them,  but  that  in  this  **  Flowery  Land  *' 
there  are  as  true  love -knots  tied  as  ever  were  fastened 
by  the  loving  hands  of  the  most  romantic  and  the  most 
devoted  affection. 

The  reader  will  now  be  prepared  to  believe  that  the 
wife  is  not  the  down -trodden  person  she  is  often  sup- 
posed to  be.  There  is  a  popular  idea,  mainly  gained 
from  books  and  from  the  exaggerated  statements  of 
travellers,  that  the  woman  in  the  Orient  is  a  kind  of 
slave,  who  dares  not  open  her  mouth  in  the  presence 
of  her  husband,  who  tyrannises  over  her  and  makes 
her  submissive  to  his  will.  This  is  an  entire  mistake. 
In  the  very  nature  of  the  case  it  must  be  so.  Nature 
has  imparted  to  a  woman  a  most  mysterious  power 
of  attraction  that  is  a  safeguard  to  her,  and  that  saves 
her  from  being  crushed  as  men  are  by  men.  The 
battle  of  life  would  indeed  be  a  continued  defeat  for 
her  were  she  not  protected  in  her  weakness  by  an 
invisible  force  that  is  stronger  than  the  mightiest  battle- 
ments by  which  men  would  defend  themselves  from' 
the  oppressor.  Cases  of  hardship  continually  occur  in 
family  life  in  China;,  but  they  are  not  special  to  this 
land.  As  far  as  a.  long  experience  would  enable  me 
to  judge,  I  verily  believe  that  the  majority  of  homes 
in  this  country  are  reasonably  happy  ones,  and  the 
wives  hold  a  position  not  of  sufferance  but  of  love. 

17 


258    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

The  Chinese  conception  of  a  home  varies  very,  con- 
siderably from  ours.  They  do  not  seem  to  take  into 
account  that  there  are  certain  elements  that  are  essen- 
tial to  the  making  up  of  what  we  consider  to  be  a 
happy  home.  For  example,  amongst  the  five  eternal 
virtues  enumerated  by  Mencius,  unfortunately  clean- 
liness is  not  one.  If  it  had  been,  it  might  have  changed 
the  whole  character  of  the  nation.  At  present  dust 
and  dirt  and  disorder  are  the  normal  conditions  of 
life  of  nearly  every  Chinese.  You  step  into  any  home 
of  the  middle  and  lower  classes  and  you  get  a  shock. 
Comfort  seems  to  have  been  the  last  thing  aimed  at 
in  the  building  of  it.  Things  are  grimy  and  unwashed, 
and  are  tossed  about  without  any  regard  to  the  general 
effect  they  might  possibly  have  in  making  the  house 
look  pleasant.  The  floors,  which  are  earthen,  are  swept 
now  and  again  in  the  middle,  but  under  chairs  and 
tables,  and  especially  beds,  the  accumulated  dust  is 
as  sure  of  being  undisturbed  as  is  the  Chinese  face, 
or  the  bloated  spiders  that  look  down  calmly  and  with 
a  knowing  wink  from  the  rafters  overhead.  It  would 
seem,  too,  as  though  the  furniture  had  been  made 
with  a  special  view  to  discomfort.  The  chairs  are 
stiff-backed  and  angular,  and  evidently  designed  by 
the  founders  of  the  race  to  discourage  their  descendants 
from  sitting  too  much.  The  wooden  benches  that 
supplement  these  are  so  narrow  that  a  person  using 
them,  by  and  by  unconsciously,  leans  forward  and  re- 
lieves his  weariness  by  resting  his  elbows  on  his  knees, 
like  the  typical  American  sitting  on  a  rail  in  the  back- 
woods. It  is  no  doubt  for  the  same  reason  that  a 
Chinese  is  so  much  given  to  sitting  on  his  heels,  and  it 
is  no  uncommon  sight  to  see  a  man  perched  upon 
one  of  these  benches  in  a  position  that  an  Englishman 
could  hardly  endure  for  ten  minutes,  but  which,  to  a 
Chinese,  is  an  ideal  way  of  passing  his  leisure  time. 

The  beds  are  on  the  same  plane  as  the  rest  of  the 
furniture,  and  consist  of  the  ordinary  four  posts,  with 
a  bottom  made  of  hard  boards.  The  only  covering 
laid  on  these  is  a  thin  mat  made  of  rushes,  on  which 
the  people  sleep.  An  Occidental  would  writhe  atid 
wriggle  the  livelong  night,  and  the  next  morning  his 
body  would  be  full  of  pains  ^nd  aches,  whilst  a  Chinese 


HOME  AND  FAMILY  LIFE  259 

would  sleep  as  calmly  as  though  he  were  reposing  on 
a  feather-bed.  The  pillow  is  a  curiosity  in  its  way, 
but  an  Englishman  would  consider  it  a  veritable  instru- 
ment of  torture.  It  is  not  intended  to  be  something 
soft  and  comfortable  on  which  to  recline  the  head^ 
but  simply  as  a  rest  for  the  neck.  It  consists  of  a 
variety  of  articles  according  to  the  financial  position 
of  the  individual.  With  the  very  poor  it  is  a  block 
of  wood  or  a  brick.  This  is  placed  under  the  nape  of 
the  neck.  It  would  seem  to  be  an  exceedingly  uncom- 
fortable place  to  have  such  a  pillow,  but  the  nation 
with  singular  unanimity  has  selected  to  have  it  there 
and  nowhere  else.  The  richer  have  more  elaborate 
and  expensive  ones,  but  always  of  some  hard  and  un- 
yielding substance,  and  rich  and  poor  alike  consider 
that  its  function  is  to  suppwDrt  the  neck  and  not  the 
head.  This  pillow  is  to  my  mind  one  of  the  evidences 
of  the  indirect  method  by  which  the  Chinese  brain 
reaches  its  conclusions.  We  maintain  that  the  head 
ought  to  be  elevated  during  sleep.  They  believe  the 
same,  only  they  hold  that  this  can  be  best  done  through 
the  medium  of  the  neck.  You  tell  a  Chinese  that  you 
cannot  conceive  how  he  can  endure  such  an  uncom- 
fortable thing  as  a  brick  set  on  end  digging  into  his 
neck  all  night.  His  face  beams  with  one  of  his  bland 
and  childlike  smiles  at  the  utter  absurdity  of  your 
remark,  whilst  he  assures  you  that  it  is  all  a  matter  of 
habit.  It  is  to  him  one  of  the  signs  of  the  inferiority 
of  the  barbarian  that  he  cannot  see  how  suitable  a 
piece  of  wood  with  the  rough  edge  digging  into  his 
neck  is  for  a  dreamless  sleep  during  the  long  hours  of 
the  night. 

Family  life  is  robbed  of  some  of  its  special  attrac- 
tions to  an  Englishman  in  its  utter  want  of  privacy. 
Such  a  thing  as  a  private  house,  in  the  sense  that  it 
is  sedulously  guarded  from  the  outside  world,  is  un- 
known to  the  Chinese.  I  have  frequently  been  travel- 
ling in  the  interior  where  the  sight  of  a  foreigner  has 
plunged  a  whole  neighbourhood  into  a  perfect  frenzy 
of  excitement.  Crowds  have  followed  me  everywhere. 
They  stared  at  me  in  the  streets,  and  surrounded  me  if 
I  stopped  for  a  moment  to  look  at  anything.  They 
followed  me  down  narrow  lanes,  where  I  made  a  dash 


260    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

to  get  away  from  them,  and  I  was  met  by  a  fresh  con- 
tingent at  the  other  end,  who  had  made  a  flank  move- 
ment to  get  a  better  view  of  me.  They  smiled  when 
I  smiled,  and  thinking  to  please  me  they  laughed  out- 
rageously at  something  I  said,  though  there  was  not 
the  ghost  of  a  joke  in  it.  When  I  moved  on,,  the 
crowds  automatically  followed,  as  though  they  were 
my  shadow.  They  never  got  wearied  of  gazing  at 
me,  or  at  something  on  my  person.  My  eyes  being 
different  from  the  universal  black  of  the  nation  caused 
prolonged  stares  and  original  criticism.  The  two 
buttons  on  the  back  of  my  coat  started  a  series  of 
speculations  as  to  their  precise   use   in  buttoning  up. 

At  length,  to  escape  the  persistent  attentions  of  my 
friendly  but  critical  following,  I  dived  into  the  house 
of  a  respectable-looking  man,  who  had  politely  invited 
me  to  come  in  and  sit  down,  in  the  hope  that  I  should 
get  rid  of  my  admirers.  In  this  I  was  mistaken, 
however.  The  crowd  entered  with  me,  as  though  the 
place  belonged  to  the  whole  company,  and  they  made 
themselves  completely  at  home.  Most  of  them,  indeed, 
came  to  stay  as  long  as  I  did.  Some  walked  about 
and  made  miscellaneous  remarks.  Others  filled  their 
bamboo  pipes  that  they  generally  carry  about  with 
them,  and  soon  polluted  the  air  with  the  disgusting 
smell  of  their  bad  tobacco.  Others  lounged  about  and 
took  notes  of  everything,  whilst  a  select  knot  drew  a 
semicircle  round  the  chair  in  which  I  was  seated, 
and  continued  to  gaze  with  unabated  interest  at  me. 
The  owner  of  the  house  did  not  appear  to  think  there 
was  anything  out  of  the  way  in  this  intrusion  upon 
the  privacy  of  his  home.  He  chatted  with  the  crowd, 
smoked  his  bamboo  pipe,  and  now  and  then  smiled 
upon  me  as  though  he  were  highly  pleased  with  every- 
thing. 

A  Chinese  has  never  been  trained  to  believe  in 
privacy.  It  is  only  the  well-to-do  who  ever  dream  of 
having  a  house  all  to  themselves,  and  even  then  it  is 
almost  sure  to  be  shared  by  some  near  relatives  who 
have  some  claim  upon  them.  The  common  people 
cannot  afford  the  luxury  of  a  home  all  their  own.  The 
houses,  consequently,  are  so  built  that  they  are  capable 
of  accommodating  more  families  than  one.    Within  one 


CHILDREN    AT    PLAY. 


GIRLS   WASHING   CLOTHES. 


HOME  AND  FAMILY  LIFE  261 

compound  there  may  be  a  half  a  dozen  of  these,  w^ho 
seem  to  make  no  attempt  to  conceal  their  doings  from 
each  other.  Questions  that  we  should  deem  it  advis- 
able to  discuss  with  closed  doors,  and  after  we  had 
carefully  peered  round  to  see  that  there  were  no  eaves- 
droppers, are  talked  about  before  their  neighbours,  who 
will  stand  silently  taking  in  every  word  that  has  been 
said.  The  result  of  all  this  is  that  there  are  no  secrets 
in  China.  Everybody  knows  everything  about  every- 
body else.  What  salary  a  man  gets,  how  much  he  is 
in  debt,  what  shady  transactions  he  has  been  engaged 
in,  and  how  much  he  spent  on  the  last  feast  he  gave 
are  known  with  as  much  exactness  as  they  are  to  the 
individuals  themselves.  The  Chinese  mind  is  a 
wonderful  storehouse  of  dates  and  facts.  These  it 
treasures  up,  and  brings  forth  as  occasion  requires. 
This  peculiarity  of  the  Chinese  is  one  of  the  mysteries 
that  perplex  the  foreigner.  In  many  things  they  are 
most  sensitive  to  public  opinion,  and  to  save  his  *'  face  " 
a  man  will  resort  to  all  kinds  of  cunning  devices  and 
subterfuges,  and  yet  he  voluntarily  deprives  himself 
of  the  ^  privacy  of  his  home  and  allows  the  world  to 
learn  the  minutest  details  of  his  life  there. 

There  is  another  feature  about  the  Chinese  home 
that  seems  to  give  it  a  charm  to  the  inmates,  but 
which  would  render  it  intolerable  to  the  average  English- 
man, and  that  is  the  absence  of  quiet  in  it.  The  doors 
are  open  the  livelong  day  ;  every  sound  from  the  street, 
as  well  as  the  voices  of  the  neighbours  in  the  adjoin- 
ing compartments,  penetrates  it.  The  Chinese  may  be 
said  to  be  bred  and  born  amidst  noise,  until  it  would 
seem  as  though  they  could  not  live  without  it.  The 
common  people  in  their  ordinary  conversation  talk  as 
though  they  were  speaking  to  some  one  in  the  next 
street.  Schoolboys  study  their  lessons  at  the  loudest 
pitch  to  which  their  voices  can  be  raised  and  amidst 
the  roar  of  the  whole  school.  The  most  effective  and 
telling  of  the  speeches  in  their  plays  on  the  streets 
are  uttered  amidst  the  beating  of  drums  and  the  clang 
of  cymbals,  and  when  a  mandarin  leaves  his  post  with 
the  goodwill  of  his  people,  it  is  amidst  the  deafening 
noise  of  firecrackers  that  is  enough  almost  to  crack 
the.  drum  of  one's  ear. 


262    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

The  Chinese  seem  to  be  absolutely  without  nerves. 
A  door  will  go  on  slamming  for  hours,  and  no  one 
will  ever  dream  of  getting  up  and  closing  it.  A  dog 
may  whine  and  howl  during  the  silent  hours  of  the 
night  in  such  a  way  as  would  make  an  Englishman 
mad,  but  a  Chinese  is  as  calm  and  unmoved  as  though 
he  heard  no  sound,  and  no  one  gets  into  a  fit  of  irrita- 
tion and  suggests  that  it  should  be  either  kicked  or 
shot.  An  ass  stands  in  a  paddock  near  by,  and,  with 
ears  erect,  will  utter  its  sweet  music  for  hours,  but  it 
would  be  treated  with  the  same  patience  as  though 
it  were  a  nightingale  filling  the  air  with  its  charming 
song.  And  so  the  children  shout  and  romp,  and  the 
scholar  sits  within  earshot  in  his  study,  and  people 
sit  conversing  with  each  other,  and  in  a  room  close  by 
lies  a  man  tossing  with  fever,  whose  head  is  likely  to 
split  with  pain,  but  no  one  suggests  that  the  play 
should  be  suspended,  or  a  stick  be  shown  to  frighten 
off  the  delinquents.  A  Chinese  is  inured  to  noise.  He 
spends  his  life  in  the  middle  of  it.  It  is  the  prevailing 
atmosphere  of  his  home,  and  when  he  dies  it  is  the 
great  ambition  of  his  life  that  he  shall  be  escorted  to 
the  grave  with  the  sounds  of  weeping  and  lamentation 
and  with  the  weird  and  ear-splitting  music  of  the  ragged 
and  unsavoury -looking  band,  who  fill  the  air  with  their 
doleful  funeral  sounds. 

Notwithstanding  the  objectionable  features  that  for 
us  would  detract  from  the  comfort  of  home,  there  is 
no  question  but  that  it  has  the  same  charm  for  the 
Chinese  that  it  has  for  us.  This  is  as  true  of  the 
most  poverty-stricken  as  it  is  of  the  wealthy.  He 
cannot  bear  to  be  away  long  from  it,  and  if  he  is  com- 
pelled by  poverty  to  be  separated  from  it,  the  thought 
of  when  he  shall  be  able  to  return  to  it  is  constantly  in 
his  mind.  I  have  known  men  who,  like  the  Swiss, 
have  had  the  veritable  mal  da  pays  or  home  sickness, 
and  who  were  only  saved  from  a  serious  illness,  or 
from  losing  their  reason,  by  getting  back  to  their 
friends  and  their  home. 


CHAPTER    XX 

FARMERS   AND    FARMING 

China  is  an  essentially  agricultural  country.  The  great 
mass  of  the  people  are  farmers,  and  spend  their  lives 
in  the  cultivation  of  the  countless  farms  that  cover 
the  face  of  the  whole  country.  If  one  were  to  visit 
the  great  commercial  centres,  such  as  Shanghai,  Han- 
kow, or  Canton,  and  see  the  miles  of  shops  that  stand 
closely  studded  together,  and  watch  the  crowds  that 
throng  along  the  narrow  streets,  he  would  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  commerce  was  the  one  forte  of  the 
Chinese. 

Again,  if  he  were  to  travel  up  the  great  rivers  and 
waterways  of  this  empire  and  see  the  ceaseless  succes- 
sion of  junks  that  pass  up  and  down  at  all  hours  of 
the  day  and  night  with  their  cargoes,  he  would  feel 
still  more  convinced  that  the  supreme  thought  in  the 
Chinaman's  heart  was  business.  Or  once  again,  if  he 
were  to  stand  by  the  side  of  the  great  trunk  roads  that 
connect  the  east  and  the  west,  and  the  various  cities 
along  the  route  with  each  other,  and  mark  the  endless 
stream  of  horses  and  mules  and  human  carriers  bear- 
ing the  produce  of  many  provinces  to  each  other,  he 
would  again  be  inclined  to  imagine  that  trade  was 
the  main  thought  that  absorbed  the  energies  of  the 
nation. 

In  all  this  he  would  be  mistaken.  There  is  no  one 
in  the  whole  of  this  great  empire  that  is  in  such  evidence 
as  the  farmer,  for  he  meets  you  not  only  on  his  farm 
but  also  in  many  other  callings  where  you  would  not 
expect  to  find  him.  In  fact,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
go  into  any  line  of  life,  where  hard  work  is  demanded, 
where  you  would  not  come  across  him. 

The  men  that  do  the  heavy  work  of  the  cities  and 


264    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

carry  in  the  goods  with  which  the  shops  and  warehouses 
are  stocked  are  mainly  farmers.  They  seem  a  rough, 
rowdy-looking  lot  of  men  and  are  called  by  way  of 
contempt  coolies,  but  almost  every  man  is  a  skilled 
farmer,  and  seen  on  his  farm  would  appear  a  very 
different  person  from  the  grimy,  unkempt -looking 
savage  who  stands  almost  naked  in  a  sweltering  hold, 
hauling  about  great  packages  that  would  overtax  the 
strength  of  any  ordinary  European.  The  men  that 
stand  alongside  the  main  roads  and  beg  to  be  employed 
as  chair-bearers — a,  task  that  would  seem  possible  only 
for  men  trained  and  inured  to  this  particular  work — 
are  all  farmers.  Their  crops  are  in  and  they  have 
some  idle  time  on  their  hands.  They  have  the  thews 
and  sinews  to  do  the  work,  and  though  they  may  not 
carry  their  fares  with  the  deftness  and  knack  of  the 
trained  men,  they  will  bring  them  more  swiftly  to  his 
journey's  end  and  make  less  fuss,  and  cheat  them  less 
than  the   regular  chair-bearers. 

If  a  man  is  going  to  make  an  excursion  to  the  top 
of  some  mountain,  he  will  desire  to  have  surefooted 
and  strong,  enduring  fellows  who  will  carry  him  along 
the  edge  of  deep  ravines  and  up  the  giddy  heig^hts 
where  the  only  roads  are  footpaths  that  the  goats  and 
the  wild  animals  have  made.  When  he  comes  to  start 
he  will  find  a  sunburnt  set  of  men,  with  muscles  as  hard 
as  iron,  with  not  a  superfluous  ounce  of  flesh,  and 
trained  by  severe  toil  to  endure  hardship.  When  he 
asks  who  these  men  are,  they  will  say  :  '*  We  are 
farmers  and  we  guarantee  to  carry  you  safely  to  the 
highest  peaks  of  the  mountain  and  bring  you  back 
unharmed.'* 

You  make  a  journey  up  one  of  the  great  rivers,  and 
you  engage  a  boat  with  its  captain  and  crew.  They 
are  a  pleasant,  homely  set  of  men,  most  willing  and 
agreeable,  and  ever  ready,  when  the  breeze  fails  or  the 
tide  is  too  strong,  to  take  to  the  oars,  and  for  hours  keep 
on  rowing  without  murmur  or  complaint.  Every  man 
of  them  is  a  farmer,  and  when  the  voyage  is  over 
they  will  return  to  their  homes,  and,  should  no  new 
engagement  claim  them,  they  will  proceed  about  the 
business  of  their  farms  as  though  they  had  never  sailed 
a  boat  in  their  lives. 


FARMERS  AND  FARMING  265 

You  watch  a  fleet  of  fishing-boats  come  in  from  sea. 
It  has  been  blowing  great  guns  outside  and  the  men's 
faces  are  browned  with  the  storm.  They  have  shown 
a  deftness  in  carrying  their  craft  over  high  waves,- 
and  through  great  blasts  of  wind  that  threatened  to 
overturn  their  frail -looking  boats,  that  one  would 
imagine  to  be  the  result  of  a  life's  training.  Every 
man  amongst  them,  however,  is  first  of  all  a  farmer, 
and  when  the  fish  have  been  sold  and  the  boats 
are  anchored  in  some  quiet  bay,  or  hauled  up  on  the 
beach  close  by  their  homes,  they  spend  their  time,  till 
they  have  to  go  to  sea  again,  in  their  fields. 

It  is  sheer  necessity  that  has  developed  the  versatility 
of  the  farmer,  and  his  appearance  in  so  many  different 
employments  is  entirely  due  to  his  poverty.  The  farms 
are  small  and  families  are  large,  and  to  keep  the  home 
together  it  is  a  case  of  absolute  necessity  that  the 
male  members  of  the  family  should  go  forth  and  engage 
in  any  kind  of  labour  that  will  bring  grist  to  the  mill. 
The  facihty  with  which  the  farmer  can  turn  his  hand 
to  any  kind  of  unskilled  work,  and  his  great  physical 
powers  of  endurance,  make  him  an  acquisition  to  those 
in  search  of  labourers.  The  Chinese  farmer,  in  appear- 
ance at  least,  is  very  different  from  his  English  proto- 
type. He  has  not  that  jolly,  burly,  rosy-cheeked  look 
that  has  been  so  well  portrayed  in  the  pages  of 
Punch.  He  gives  one  the  impression  of  a  man  whose 
life  has  been  spent  in  downright  hard  work.  There  is 
not  a  single  ounce  of  spare  flesh  upon  him.  His  face 
and  hands  are  of  a  dark  brown  colour,  tanned  into 
them  by  exposure  to  the  fiery-faced  sun  of  the  Orient 
and  to  the  open-air  influence  amid  which  his  daily  life 
is  spent.  His  hands,  unless  he  is  still  young,  are  gnarled 
and  twisted  out  of  shape  by.  the  constant  grasping  of 
his  hoe,  the  one  implement  that  to  the  Chinese  farmer 
takes  the  place  of  the  spade,  only  in  a  more  extensive 
degree. 

He  never  stands  erect.  He  bends  a  little  forward, 
having  a  slight  list  to  the  left.  This  is  due  to  his 
having  to  do  all  his  own  carrying  work,  which  in 
England  is  done  by  horses  and  carts.  The  manure 
to  fertilise  his  fields  and  the  water  to  irrigate  them  when 
the    rains    are    insufficient    are    all    borne    on    the    left 


266    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

shoulder  of  the  sturdy  farmer  ;  and  when  the  ripened 
crops  are  housed,  and  the  surplus  'is  to  be  disposed  of 
in  the  city  miles  away,  it  is  the  same  mode  of  convey- 
ance that  has  again  to  be  employed.  Railroads,  carts, 
wagons,  and  beasts  of  burden  are  luxuries  that  are 
still  beyond  the  reach  of  the  farmers  of  this  land. 

The  whole  look  of  the  man  is  that  of  a  worker,  and 
the  very  pose  that  his  body  has  taken  is  but  an  attempt 
to  ease  the  strain  that  severe  labour  is  constantly  putting 
on  it.  Unfortunately,  his  dress  does  not  add  to  his 
personal  appearance.  It  consists  of  a  loose  coat, 
buttoned  by  a  flap  on  one  side,  and  reaching  to  a  little 
below  the  hips.  The  trousers  are  loose  and  baggy> 
and  extend  to  the  knees.  These  and  his  usual  clothing 
are  made  of  cotton  cloth,  which  is  dyed  with  the 
universal  blue  that  seems  to  have  such  a  fascination 
for  the  working  classes.  As  the  weather  grows  colder, 
others  of  the  same  kind,  and  where  the  purse  will  allow 
of  it,  wadded  garments  are  added,  but  the  legs  and 
the  feet,  even  in  the  coldest  weather,  remain  uncovered, 
excepting  on  very  special  occasions,  when  etiquette 
demands  that  both  shoes  and  stockings  shall  be  worn. 

The  Chinese  farmer  further  adds  to  his  far  from 
prepossessing  appearance  by  his  utter  neglect  of  all 
habits  of  neatness.  His  head  is  shaved  only  at  con- 
siderable intervals  of  time,  and  so  the  place  that  amongst 
the  residents  of  the  towns  is  clean  shaved  is  covered  with 
a  thick,  bristly  undergrowth  of  black  hair,  that  has  a 
most  untidy  and  slovenly  look.  His  queue,  instead 
of  being  plaited  and  combed  smoothly,  is  allowed  to 
grow  at  its  own  sweet  will,  and,  following  the  instincts 
of  Nature,  that  longs  for  freedom,  it  sends  out 
straggling  tufts  here  and  there,  and  so  gives  the  wearer 
an  unkempt  and  disorderly  aspect. 

Reckless  about  his  head  and  queue,  he  is  equally  so 
concerning  his  face  and  hands.  Nature  here  has  to 
come  in  with  her  gentle  art  and  make  up  for  what 
soap  and  water  ought  to  have  done.  Washing  seems 
to  be  a  lost  art  amongst  the  working  classes,  and 
especially  amongst  the  farmers.  It  is  well  that  their 
skins  are  tanned  the  colour  they  are.  Fair  skins  with 
blue  eyes  and  golden  hair  were  evidently  meant  for 
men  who  believed  in  the  virtue  of  water.     The  labour- 


FARMERS  AND  FARMING  267 

ing  men  in  this  land  have  concealed  their  dislike  of  it 
under  brown  skins  and  black  eyes  and  hair,  and  so 
their  neglect  of  cleanliness  is  not  so  striking  nor  so 
repulsive. 

This  description  of  the  farmer  is  a  faithful  one,  but 
by  no  means  an  adverse  one.  He  is  a  real  good  fellow 
in  the  main,  and  our  sympathies  are  decidedly  with  him' 
rather  than  against  him.  He  is  about  as  good  a 
specimen  of  a  man,  who  stands  up  to  his  work  and  does 
it,  as  can  be  found  the  wide  world  over.  There  is  no 
whining  about  him.  The  conditions  in  which  he  lives 
are  all  against  making  life  easy.  His  food  as  a  rule 
is  wanting  in  variety  and  is  deficient  in  nutritive  quali- 
ties. His  three  meals  a  day,  when  he  is  lucky  enough 
to  get  so  many,  are  simply  a  repetition  of  each  other, 
and  consist  of  boiled  rice,  seasoned  with  salted  turnip 
or  cabbage,  varied  with  the  commoner  and  cheaper 
kinds  of  salt  fish,  beans,  curds,  and  pickled  beans  or 
cucumbers.  In  very  many  districts  throughout  the 
empire  rice  is  a  luxury  that  the  poorer  classes  can  only 
hope  to  get  a  dozen  times  or  so  during  the  whole 
course  of  the  year.  Sweet  potatoes  are  then  the  staple 
food  upon  which  they  have  to  depend,  supplemented 
with  salted  cabbage  or  turnip  as  the  condiment.  It 
can  be  easily  imagined  how  insufficient  a  diet  of  this 
kind  is  to  build  up  healthy  men  and  women.  The  fact 
is  the  working  classes,  especially  in  the  country  districts, 
are  anything  but  robust  and  sturdy  people. 

Foreign  physicians,  who  have  opened  hospitals  and 
treated  large  numbers  of  those  who  have  consulted 
them,  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  large 
majority  of  the  population  is  below  par  and  is  suffer- 
ing from  indigestion.  Salted  turnip,  which  is  a  popular 
condiment,  persistently  eaten  through  all  the  months 
of  the  year,  is  very  much  responsible  for  this  latter 
ailment.  But  it  is  cheap,  and  so  the  evil  has  to  be 
endured.  It  would  be  an  interesting  question  to  dis- 
cuss what  effect  this  general  and  widespread  indiges- 
tion has  upon  the  character  of  the  people  and  upon 
the  course  of  their  history.  A  dyspeptic  person  in 
England  very  often  is  afflicted  with  an  uncertain  temper, 
is  fanciful,  and  has  curious  theories  of  life.  What,  then, 
about  the  great  mass  of  the  Chinese  population  with 


268    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

their  age-to-age  succession  of  dyspeptic  disorders?  Are 
these  in  any  way  a  reason  for  the  obHque  way  in 
which  the  mind  of  this  people  is  often  apt  to  run,  and  for 
many  curious  events  in  their  past  history  that  seem' 
so  difficult  of  explanation  from  a  European  standpoint? 
This  is  a  point  that  is  well  worth  considering. 

To  my  mind,  the  Chinese  is  a  really  heroic  character, 
especially  so  in  the  way  in  which  he  meets  life.  The 
struggle  he  has  to  make  is  a  severe  one  physically.  For 
the  sorrows  that  come  to  all  men  he  has  no  consola- 
tions of  religion  to  sustain  him,  for  the  idols  are  never 
supposed  to  bring  any  sympathy  or  comfort  to  him. 
He  has  absolutely  to  stand  alone  with  his  own  brave 
heart,  and  with  an  unflinching  purpose  he  does  his 
work  and  cares  for  his  family  as  though  there  were  no, 
sacrifices  involved  and  no  merit  whatever  in  what  he 
is  doing. 

The  feeling  that  one  has  for  him  is  not  pity  but 
admiration.  He  is  really  perfectly  unconscious  of  the 
attitude  he  is  taking.  Those  black,  restless  eyes  show 
a  mind  by  no  means  oppressed  by  the  hardships  of 
life,  and  the  merry  twinkle  that  makes  them  dance 
when  something  witty  is  said  shows  that  this  matter-of- 
fact -looking  man  can  enjoy  a  joke  as  thoroughly  as 
those  whose  lives  are  placed  in  easier  circumstances. 
There  is  no  question  but  that  the  profound  sense  of 
humour  that  the  Chinese  people  possess  has  saved  them 
from  sinking  beneath  the  burdens  that  they  have  had 
to  bear  in  the  battle  of  life. 

The  Chinese  farmer  is  a  perfect  adept  at  his  work. 
He  seems  to  have  entered  into  the  very  heart  and  spirit 
of  the  vegetable  kingdom  and  to  have  learned  all  its 
secrets.  His  crops  are  put  in  apparently  without  any 
special  effort,  and  yet  they  bud  and  sprout  in  the  very 
form  he  had  intended,  and  if  the  rains  will  only  fall, 
they  repay  him  with  harvests  that  make  his  heart  sing 
for  joy.  His  hand  is  just  as  facile  with  flowers  as 
it  is  with  the  coarser  productions  of  the  soil.  He 
loves  them,  and,  with  this  consciousness  in  them,  they 
respond  with  generous  devotion  to  the  care  he  lavishes 
upon  them.  Every  Chinese  farmer  is  capable  of 
becoming  at  a  moment's  notice  a  gentleman's  gardener, 
for  with  his  quick  eye  in  studying  the  habits  of  flowers 


FARMERS  AND  FARMING  269 

he  soon  becomes  exp«rt  in  developing  their  finest 
quahties. 

It  is  amusing  to  watch  a  rough -looking  fellow  who 
looks  like  an  escaped  convict,  with  bare  legs  and  scanty 
clothes,  manipulating  the  beautiful  flowers  of  a  large 
garden.  They  are  exquisitely  kept.  Every  plant  looks 
its  best.  It  would  seem  as  though  each  one  knew  that 
his  eye  was  upon  it,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  honour  to 
appear  in  its  finest  dress.  You  ask  the  man  where  he 
acquired  such  a  knowledge  of  flowers  as  to  be  able 
to  care  for  such  a  fine  garden  as  this.  He  looks  at 
you  with  surprise  as  he  replies  :  *'  Don't  you  know 
I  am  a  farmer?  Of  course  I  ought  to  know  about 
flowers  seeing  that  for  many  years  I  worked  my  own 
farm,  a  thing  far  more  difficult  to  do  than  this, 
seeing  that  I  have  every  convenience  at  my  hand  to 
assist  me." 

The  chief  productions  in  the  South  of  China  are 
rice,  sweet  potatoes,  wheat,  barley,  ground  nuts, 
millet,  sugar-cane,  indigo,  and  a  great  variety  of 
vegetables,  such  as  turnips,  carrots,  beans,  cabbages, 
cauliflowers,  cucumbers,  tomatoes,  egg  plants,  melons, 
&c.  The  most  important  of  all  the  cereals  produced  by 
the  Chinese  farmer  is  rice.  This  is  the  staple  food 
of  rich  and  poor,  and  takes  the  place  that  wheat  does 
in  England.  Its  cultivation  is  by  no  means  an  easy  one. 
It  may  safely  be  said  that  from  the  time  the  crop  is 
sown  until  it  is  safely  harvested  the  farmer's  mind  is 
never  free  from  anxiety.  His  first  step  is  to  select  a 
small  plot  of  ground  that  can  easily  be  flooded.  Into  the 
water  standing  in  this  the  rice  is  thickly  sown.  In 
a  short  time  it  sprouts  up  very  luxuriantly,  being  of 
a  beautiful  bright  green  colour  that  is  most  charming 
to  the  eye.  After  it  has  reached  the  height  of  six  or 
seven  inches  it  is  pulled  by  the  roots,  and  made 
up  into  small  bundles  of  five  or  six.  These  are  then 
planted  in  the  rice -fields  proper,  at  a  distance  of  about 
eight  or  nine  inches  apart.  From  this  time  till  within 
a  few  days  of  the  harvesting  of  the  crop  the  fields  must 
have  at  least  two  or  three  inches  of  standing  water  in 
them.  To  allow  them  to  get  dry  would  be  to  insure 
the  death  of  the  crop. 

-There  are  two  plajitings  of  rice  a  year.     The  first 


270    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

is  in  April  and  the  second  is  in  the  end  of  July.  The 
gathering  in  of  the  latter  takes  place  in  November, 
and  then  the  toil  and  anxiety  connected  with  two  great 
crops  of  the  year  are  ended.  The  greatest  source  of 
trouble  to  the  farmer  is  to  secure  a  sufficient  supply 
of  water,  so  that  the  growing  rice  shall  always  be 
standing  in  it.  This  is  no  easy  matter.  If  the  rains 
have  been  abundant,  and  the  springs  are  overflowing, 
and  the  wells  and  ponds  that  abound  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  these  are  full,  his  mind  is  comparatively  at 
rest.  If  they  are  not,  then  he  is  always  on  the  rack 
as  to  how  he  shall  fight  against  the  great  fiery  sun 
overhead  that  sends  down  his  burning  rays  and  licks 
up  the  water  that  he  needs  for  his  precious  rice.  As 
the  time  goes  on  and  the  rains  fail  to  descend,  his 
sorrows  become  more  intense.  After  a  time  the  ponds 
dry  up.  The  great  sun  blazes  down  from  an  unclouded 
sky,  and  with  insatiable  thirst  drinks  up  the  water  that 
is  moistening  the  roots  of  the  rice.  The  soil  now  cracks 
with  the  fervent  heat  and  every  blade  of  rice  seems 
to  be  making  an  appeal  to  the  heartbroken  farmer 
for  the  water  that  alone  will  enable  it  to  live. 

'He  is  now  at  his  wits'  end  to  save  his  crop,  for  that, 
perhaps,  is  the  only  thing  now  that  lies  between  him 
and  poverty  and  despair.  So  many  of  these  farmers  live 
upon  the  very  borders  of  a  land  that,  like  a  vast 
howling  wilderness,  sees  only  the  wrecks  of  human  life, 
and  where  family  life  and  family  ties  are  buried  beneath 
the  pitiless  sands.  The  failure  of  a  crop  means  very 
likely  that  he  will  have  to  sell  his  daughter  or 
son  perhaps,  or  even  barter  away  his  wife,  if  he 
would  keep  the  homestead  from  slipping  from  his 
grasp. 

Some  of  the  most  piteous  scenes,  in  the  many  tragic 
ones  that  cast  their  shadow  over  the  home  in  the  ex- 
perience of  the  Chinese  husbandman,  can  be  witnessed 
during  the  summer  months  when  there  has  been  a 
shortage  in  the  fall  of  rain.  The  wells  have  become 
dry  and  the  little  ponds  have  been  drained  of  every 
drop  of  water  they  contained.  The  rice  in  the  fields 
has  lost  the  dark  green  colour  that  with  its  rich  sheen 
tells  of  health  and  vitality,  and  is  turning  into  a  sickly 
yellow  that  means  decay  and  death.     Water  must  be 


FARMERS  AND  FARMING  271 

got  now,  and  at  any  price,  for  two  or  three  days  more  of 
this  will  see  the  crop  blasted  in  the  fields.  The  farmer 
accordingly  digs  the  ponds  deeper  to  catch  the  tiniest 
tills  that  may  flow  into  them,  and  as  the  work  in  the 
blazing  sun  might  at  once  drink  these  up,  the  work  is 
carried  on  during  the  midnight  hours,  so  that  not  a  drop 
of  the  precious  fluid  may  be  absorbed  by  the  great 
thirsty  dragon  in  the  sky. 

Oftentimes  these  most  pathetic  endeavours  to  save 
the  crops  end  in  tragedy  and  death.  Men  are  making 
a  supreme  effort  to  avert  disaster  from  their  homes,  and 
in  the  mad  endeavour  to  gain  the  water  for  themselves 
the  wildest  passions  of  the  heart  are  aroused,  and  neigh- 
bours will  struggle  with  each  other  for  the  s  lowly - 
trickling  rills.  The  solemn  silence  of  night  is  broken 
with  the  sounds  of  conflict,  and  the  stars  looking  down 
from  the  midnight  sky  see  murder  committed  by  men 
whose  sole  and  controlling  motive  is  the  preservation 
of  their  homes. 

It  is  astonishing  what  splendid  results  the  Chinese 
farmer  gets  out  of  his  farm,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  his 
farming  implements  are  of  the  poorest  possible  descrip- 
tion. His  plough  is  a  most  elementary  utensil  and  has 
evidently  come  down  from  the  remote  past,  just  as  it 
was  invented  by  the  early  founders  of  the  nation.  No 
one  has  dared  during  the  process  of  ages  to  suggest  that 
any  improvement  could  be  made  upon  a  design  that  was 
conceived  by  persons  so  sacred  as  their  ancestors,  and 
so  successive  generations  of  farmers  have  held  on  to  the 
clumsy  antiquity  as  though  it  had  been  the  result  of  a 
special  inspiration  that  would  be  blasphemy  to  attempt 
to  improve  on.  It  simply  consists  of  an  iron  share 
fastened  to  a  rough,  slender  pole  that  serves  as  a 
handle,  by  which  the  ploughman  may  guide  it  when 
he  is  upturning  the  soil.  It  is  a  small,  insignificant 
thing  as  compared  with  our  English  ploughs,  for  it  is 
only  about  twenty  or  thirty  pounds  in  weight  and  would 
be  absolutely  useless  in  wet,  heavy  lands.  This  primi- 
tive implement  is  thoroughly  suited  for  light  and  sandy 
soils,  where  the  farmer  never  dreams  of  going  much 
below  the  surface  ;  and  that  he  can  get  such  excellent 
crops  with  an  article  that  our  home  farmers  would 
look   upon   with   scorn   is    a  tribute   to   the   skill   with 


272    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

which  he  knows  how  to  manipulate  the  fields,  so  as  to 
extract  from  them  the  treasures  they  possess. 

The  harrow  is  very  much  of  the  same  pattern  as  that 
used  in  England,  though,  of  course,  less  up-to-date  and 
more  old-world-looking.  In  addition  to  the  two  above- 
mentioned  tools,  there  is  what,  after  all,  is  the  most 
important  implement  that  the  farmer  possesses  for  the 
cultivation  of  his  farm,  and  that  is  the  hoe.  It  takes 
the  place  of  the  spade  with  us,  but  it  is  more  serviceable 
and  is  more  economical  of  labour.  As  the  main  work 
of  the  farmer  is  done  by  hand,  this  is  a  very  important 
item  to  the  hard-working  Chinese.  Unless  actually 
ploughing,  you  never  see  him  when  engaged  in  work 
without  his  hoe.  As  he  walks  along  the  narrow  paths 
that  wind  in  and  out  amongst  his  fields  you  see  it  slung 
like  a  gun  across  his  shoulder.  He  grasps  it  with  his 
horny  hand,  which,  through  long  and  daily  use,  has 
unconsciously  adapted  itself  to  the  shape  of  the  handle 
so  as  to  ease  the  strain  of  holding  it.  With  this  he 
transforms  the  old,  worn -out -looking  fields,  so  that  as 
the  seasons  come  round  they  forget  their  age  and 
blossom  into  youth.  iWith  it  he  turns  up  the  soil  with 
a  deftness  that  long  experience  has  taught  him  ;  he 
trims  the  paths  that  border  his  fields  ;  he  places  the 
manure  near  the  roots  of  the  growing  potatoes,  and  he 
deepens  his  water-courses  when  they  become  choked 
with  wild  grasses  and  weeds.  Large  numbers  of  the 
farmers  are  too  poor  to  afford  oxen  with  which  to  plough 
their  fields,  and  so  the  women  members  of  their  house- 
holds have  to  do  the  work  of  these  animals,  or  else,  if 
they  have  none  who  can  take  their  place,  they  have  to 
do  the  whole  work  themselves  with  their  hoes. 

The  astonishing  success  of  the  farmers  in  this  country 
is  not  due  altogether  to  their  skill,  or  to  the  labour  they 
put  into  their  fields.  These,  no  doubt,  are  most  im- 
portant elements  in  the  production  of  fair  and  average 
crops  out  of  lands  that  an  English  farmer  would  not 
look  at.  The  real  secret  lies  in  his  faith  in  manures 
and  in  his  persistent  and  determined  use  of  them.  It 
is  this  that  enables  him  through  a  long  course  of  years 
without  any  rest  or  rotation  of  crops,  and  oftentimes 
from  a  very  sandy  or  thin  soil,  to  secure  harvests  that 
will  keep  his  family  from  poverty..    He  holds  firmly,  and 


FARMERS  AND  FARMING  273 

long  experience  sustains  him  in  this,  that  even  very 
poor  land  can  be  made  productive  if  only  sufficient 
manure  be  put  into  it.  The  population,  moreover,  of 
China  is  so  dense  and  the  farms  are  so  small  generally, 
that  the  holders  cannot  afford  to  allow  any  of  the  fields 
to  lie  fallow.  To  do  so  would  mean  starvation  to  the 
home.  The  difficulty  is  met  by  a  liberal  and  judicious 
employment  of  manure. 

Now,  the  question  as  to  wTiat  was  the  best  and.  at  the 
same  time  the  most  economical  to  be  used  was  dis- 
cussed by  the  Chinese  ages  ago,  and  they  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  was  nothing  to  be  compared  with 
night-soil.  Succeeding  generations  have  coincided  with 
this  opinion,  and  consequently  it  stands  to-day  pre- 
eminent among  all  the  fertilisers  employed  by  the 
farmers,  as  the  best  and  cheapest  that  can  be  used. 
There  is  no  question  but  that  without  it  China  would 
not  be  the  country  it  is  to-day,  for  in  the  poorer  regions, 
where  the  land  is  comparatively  barren  and  improduc- 
tive,  many  a  tract  of  land  would  have  lain  desolate,  and 
many  a  home  that  has  sent  forth  distinguished  sons, 
whose  names  have  become  famous  throughout  the 
empire,  would  have  been  extinguished. 

This  question  of  the  night-soil  is  such  a  vital  one, 
both  from  a  sanitary  and  pecuniary  point  of  view,  that 
a  most  elaborate  and  perfect  system  has  been  devised 
for  its  collection.  In  the  cities  a  considerable  number 
of  the  poorer  classes  gain  their  living  in  connection 
with  it.  The  authorities  make  no  provision  whatever 
for  the  sanitation  of  the  towns.  They  leave  this  impor- 
tant business  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  knowing  that 
the  gains  from  this  one  branch  of  the  sewage  will  be 
sufficient  to  excite  private  enterprise  that  will  be  quite 
capable  of  meeting  the  difficulty.  And  this  is  really  the 
case.  Men  with  sufficient  capital  embark  in  a  business 
that  is  a  most  paying  one.  They  build  latrines  in  almost 
every  street  and  down  alleyways  and  in  obscure  corners, 
close  by  the  great  thoroughfares,  and  on  the  main  line 
where  the  flow  of  passengers  never  ceases  the  livelong 
day. 

In  addition  to  these  they  engage  men  to  go  round 
every  morning  to  buy  the  refuse  of  the  houses  through- 
oui  the  town.     This  is  done  openly  and  no  disgrace 

18 


274    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

whatever  is  supposed  to  be  attached  to  it.  It  is  done 
in  the  light  of  day  and  the  neighbours  are  allowed  to 
hear  the  chaffering  arid  bargaining  that  go  on.  These 
purchases  are  then  carried  to  some  central  latrine, 
where  they  are  stored  till  the  time  comes  for  emptying 
it. 

Once  a  month  the  farmers  from  the  outlying  districts 
come  with  their  boats,  and,  anchoring  off  some  place 
most  convenient  for  their  purpose,  carry  off  the  accu- 
mulation to  their  farms.  This  is  done  in  the  busy  hours 
of  the  day,  when  the  streets  are  crowded  with  people 
and  trade  is  at  its  busiest.  These  night-soil  men  with 
their  open  buckets  act  as  though  the  streets  were  their 
own,  for  in  loud  voices  that  can  be  heard  away  down 
the  narrow  arteries,  they  threaten  to  bump  up  against 
any  one  who  will  not  get  out  of  their  way.  This 
threat  is  so  powerful  that  the  densest  crowd  will  scatter 
in  a  moment,  and  stand  without  a  sound  by  the  sides 
of  the  road  as  the  scavenger  passes  by  at  a  trot  through 
the  midst  of  them. 

In  the  case  of  inland  cities,  the  farmer  or  his  wife  or 
daughter,  if  he  has  any,  comes  in  every  day  and  carries 
oft"  the  refuse  to  the  farm.  There  is  one  city  of  one 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants  with  which  I  am  familiar. 
One  day,  travelling  in  one  of  its  outskirts,  I  came  up 
with  a  long  line  of  women.  A  few  of  them  were  young. 
They  were  a  light-hearted,  merry  party  indeed.  They 
all  seemed  to  enjoy  rude  health  and  to  have  overflowing 
spirits,  for  they  were  full  of  laughter  and  jokes,  and 
they  made  the  road  ring  with  the  sound  of  their  merry 
voices.  It  was  a  most  pleasant  sight  to  see  so  many 
women  with  such  happy  faces,  upon  which  care  never 
seemed  to  rest.  They  were  just  like  a  pack  of  school- 
girls let  loose  for  their  holidays.  Each  woman  carried 
two  buckets  suspended  from  a  bamboo  pole  on  her  left 
shoulder,  containing  their  purchases  from  the  neigh- 
bouring city.  Every  one  that  I  saw  was  a  farmer's 
daughter,  who  knew  just  as  much  about  farming  as 
did  their  husbands  or  fathers.  I  found,  indeed,  from 
inquiries  that  I  made,  that  their  husbands  were  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  country,  striving  to  earn  a  few  dollars, 
whilst  their  farms  were  left  to  the  care  of  their  wives. 
They  did  not  seem  at  all  distressed  at  the  nature  of 


FARMERS  AND  FARMING  275 

their  work,  or  at  the  severe  tax  upon  their  strength. 
Some  had  to  carry  their  loads  several  miles,  but  this 
did  not  appear  to  distress  their  spirits,  or  restrain  the 
jokes  that  bubbled  up  from  their  hearts  and  sent  the 
laughter  rippling  up  the  road  as  the  fun  was  caught 
by  one  after  another  of  the  groups  of  women  that 
struggled  along  it. 

Though  night-soil  is  the  staple  manure,  there  are 
others  that  are  used  in  addition  to  it.  Bean  cake  ^  and 
bones  are  two  fertilisers  that  are  popular  with  the 
Chinese,  both  on  account  of  their  utility  and  also 
because  of  their  cheapness. 

The  farms  are  generally  small.  This  is  the  result 
of  the  custom  regarding  the  division  of  property.  When 
the  farmer  father  dies,  whatever  land  there  may  be 
has  to  be  divided  equally  among  the  sons.  The 
daughters  do  not  count,  as  they  are  always  married  to 
members  of  their  clans,  and  as  they  henceforward 
belong  to  them,  they  may  no  longer  claim  any  inheri- 
tance in  the  one  they  have  left.  Successive  divisions 
have  tended  to  reduce  the  size  of  the  farms,  so  that 
many  of  them  are  utterly  inadequate  to  support  the 
growing  family.  Very  often,  in  cases  of  this  kind,  some 
of  the  younger  sons  have  to  go  afield  and  earn  their 
living  in  a  variety  of  ways,  or  they  rent  farms  from 
wealthy  men  who  have  invested  their  money  in  land 
and  set  up  a  home  of  their  own. 

With  regard  to  tenant  farmers  the  conditions  under 
which  they  hold  their  farms  are  very  different  from 
those  in  the  West.  Their  payment  of  rent  is  almost 
invariably  made  in  kind.  For  example,  when  the  time 
for  the  harvesting  comes  round,  the  landlord  appears 
on  the  scene,  and  takes  his  seat  on  some  convenient 
spot  where  he  can  watch  the  process.  As  soon  as  the 
rice  is  cut  it  is  at  once  threshed  and  weighed.  One 
half  is  handed  over  to  the  landlord,  whilst  the  other  is 
retained  by  the  tenant.  By  this  plan  there  is  no  dispute 
and  no  back  rent  always  hanging  like  a  shadow  over 
the  home. 

'  Bean  cake  is  the  refuse  of  beans  out  of  which  the  oil  has  been 
pressed.  It  comes  from  the  north  of  China,  where  beans  are  largely 
cultivated.  Both  oil  and  this  popular  manure  are  largely  exported 
to- the  southern  provinces  of  the  empire. 


276    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

With  regard  to  potatoes,  the  principle  is  the  same, 
though  they  do  not  wait  till  they  are  ripe  to  make  their 
division.  The  Chinese  are  in  the  habit  of  opening  small 
holes  in  the  ridges  and  of  culling  out  the  larger  potatoes 
that  may  be  big  enough  to  be  used  for  food  for  the 
family.  This  process  goes  on  steadily  up  to  the  very 
time  when  the  season  has  arrived  for  the  whole  to 
be  dug  up.  If  the  family  is  a  poor  one,  it  will  be 
found  that  very  few  have  been  left  in  the  field,  and 
these  the  smallest  and  least  valuable.  To  meet  this 
contingency,  custom  has  settled  that  one  ridge  belongs 
to  the  landlord  and  one  to  the  tenant.  Each  party  can 
thus  look  after  his  own  interests,  and  abstract  from  his 
own  ridge  the  potatoes  that  are  growing  in  it. 

Taro  and  beans  come  under  a  different  regulation. 
In  the  former  case,  as  more  manure  is  needed  for  its 
cultivation,  one  root  in  four  is  assigned  to  the  landlord, 
but  with  regard  to  beans,  the  produce  is  equally  divided 
as  in  the  case  of  rice,  but  the  landlord  has  to  provide 
the  seed.  Everything  outside  of  these  four  crops  that 
the  tenant  may  plant  belongs  to  him  for  his  own  special 
use. 

Wheat,  barley,  and  all  kinds  of  vegetables  are  his 
own  particular  property  that  the  landlord  can  lay  no 
claim  to. 

The  above  system  seems  on  the  whole  a  very  admir- 
able one,  since  it  has  fostered  a  friendly  feeling  be- 
tween landowners  and  their  tenants.  The  two  parties 
are  really  partners  on  very  equitable  terms  in  the  work- 
ing of  the  land.  If  the  year  is  a  good  one,  the  land- 
lord looks  with  delight  upon  the  heavy  crop  of  rice, 
as  it  gleams  in  its  watery  bed,  and  equally  so  does 
the  farmer,  who  mentally  reckons,  every  time  he  looks 
at  the  grain  that  rustles  in  the  breeze,  how  much  he 
will  be  able  to  sell  after  reserving  enough  for  the 
consumption  of  his  family.  If  the  year  is  a  bad  one, 
and  the  ears  are  mildewed  or  blasted,  the  tenant  knows 
that  he  will  not  be  harassed  for  rent  at  the  quarter-day, 
no  matter  how  poor  the  ingathering  has  been.  Tenant 
and  landlord  bear  the  loss  equally,  and  together  they 
hope  for  better  times  in  the  future.  It  is  for  this  reason 
that  one  hears  so  little  of  class  differences  in  China. 
Landlord  and  tenant  live  side  by  side  in  the  utmost 


FARMERS  AND  FARMING  277 

harmony,  and  no  secret  combinations  of  the  latter  exist 
for  the  purpose  of  avenging  the  wrongs  done  by  the 
former.  Agrarian  laws  for  the  protection  of  the  land- 
owners do  not  exist  on  the  statute-books  of  this  or  any 
other  of  the  preceding  dynasties.  The  rich  landlord 
and  the  poor  tenant  are  bounid  to  each  other  by  common 
interests  and  need  no  legislation  for  their  mutual 
protection. 


CHAPTER  XXI  i .;; 

HIGHWAYS    AND    BYWAYS 

China  is  a  country  that,  looked  at  from  a  civilised 
point  of  view,  or  indeed  from  any  other  standpoint,  has 
no  roads.  Both  the  Government  and  the  people  have 
in  a  large  measure  handed  over  the  business  of  road- 
making  to  Nature,  and  as  we  are  well  aware  of  her 
aesthetic  tendencies,  her  work  has  more  of  an  orna- 
mental character  than  a  strictly  substantial  and  enduring 
one.  In  various  parts  of  the  empire,  there  are  evidences 
that  centuries  ago  there  were  really  magnificent  roads 
that  joined  important  cities  and  commercial  centres. 
These  were  paved  with  slabs  of  stone  that  remain  to 
the  present  day,  though  worn  smooth  and  thin  by  the 
countless  millions  of  feet  that  have  travelled  over  them. 
Nature  has  disapproved  of  these  formal  highways,  and 
has  been  doing  her  best  by  rain  and  storm,  by  weeds 
and  grasses,  and  by  wild  flowers  and  shrubs,  to  make 
them  fall  into  line  with  the  beauties  of  the  world 
around  them. 

There  is  one  singular  feature  about  the  roads  of 
China.  They  are  public  only  in  the  sense  that  every  one 
uses  them.  They  have  never  been  purchased  by  any 
one  and  then  handed  over  to  the  community  for  public 
use.  In  some  early  time  people  found  that  the  nearest 
way  to  a  particular  place  lay  along  a  certain  route. 
They  streamed  along  it.  They  trod  it  down  and  beat  it 
into  ruts.  The  farmers  to  whom  the  land  belonged 
silently  relinquished  their  rights  to,  it,  and  in  the  course 
of  time  the  travelling  public  calmly  assumed  that  it 
belonged  to  them.  Such  is  the  process  by  which  the 
roads  in  this  country  have  come  into  existence.  The 
whole  of  the  roads  of  China  are  roughly  divided  by 
the  Chinese  into  *'  small  "  and  '*  great."     The  former 

278 


^ 


HIGHWAYS  AND  BYWAYS  279 

constitute  the  immense  bulk  of  the  roads  in  the  empire 
and  are  simply  footpaths  that  lead  from  village  to 
village  and  hamlet  to  hamlet,  and  wind  and  bend 
according  to  the  lie  of  the  farms  from  which  they 
have  originally  been  abstracted.  Sometimes,  when  the 
land  is  barren  and  unworkable,  the  road  will  be  several 
yards  in  width,  but  when  it  runs  through  loamy  soil, 
where  crops  can  easily  be  produced,  it  narrows  to  a 
foot  or  a  foot  and  a  half. 

Passing  through  the  country  on  a  wet  day,  one 
becomes  painfully  aware  of  the  wretched  character  of 
these  Chinese  roads.  The  rain,  perhaps,  is  falling 
steadily  and  the  path  winds  amongst  the  nodding  stalks 
of  rice  that  bend  gracefully  over  the  pathway.  It 
is  but  a  foot  in  width,  and  even  in  fine  weather 
it  requires  considerable  steadiness  of  foot  to  avoid 
falling  over  into  the  slimy  mud  of  the  fields.  But  now 
it  is  slippery  and  treacherous  with  the  wet.  Here  and 
there,  too,  a  piece  through  wear  and  tear  is  actually 
under  water.  There  is  nothing  for  it  but  off  with  shoes 
and  stockings  and  wade  through  the  soft,  sticky  mire, 
till  we  ascend  a  rising  ground  where  the  water  cannot 
reach.  These  roads  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case 
are  consistently  circuitous  and  winding.  A  village,  for 
example,  is  seen  in  the  distance  a  mile  away.  To  get 
to  it  fully  a  mile  and  a  half  will  have  to  be  traversed. 
A  Chinese  never  objects  to  this,  for  it  accords  exactly 
with  the  character  of  his  own  mind,  which  never  in 
any  consideration  goes  straight  to  a  point,  but  always 
in  a  roundabout,  oblique  manner.  Besides,  a  straight 
road  to  a  village  would,  it  is  universally  believed,  con- 
stitute a  positive  danger  to  it  and  its  people,  since  it 
would  enable  the  evil  spirits  that  are  always  prowling 
about  with  some  treacherous  purpose  to  walk  right 
into  it,  whereas  a  winding  path  bothers  and  perplexes 
them  so  that  they  finally  lose  their  way  and  wander 
off  somewhere  else. 

All  the  "  small  "  roads  in  the  kingdom  are  of  the 
character  just  described.  The  green  lanes  and  hawthorn 
hedges  with  their  fragrant  blossoms  in  spring,  and  vines 
and  wild  flowers  and  clinging  clematis  in  summer,  that 
form  so  attractive  a  feature  in  English  scenery,  are 
absolutely  unknown   in  the   greater   part   of  this   vast 


280    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

country.  The  people  are  too  poor  to  allow  of  any 
waste  of  land  for  aesthetic  purposes.  The  barest 
possible  margin  that  will  serve  the  passing  traveller 
is  all  that  is  allowed  to  be  wrung  from  the  crop-pro- 
ducing areas.  In  this  respect  tlie  rural  population 
is  hundreds  of  years  behind  that  of  England.  The  result 
is  that  ignorance  and  superstition  and  the  crudest  ideas 
are  everywhere  prevalent  amongst  all  classes  of  the 
Chinese.  It  is  amusing  to  watch  the  face  of  a 
country  bumpkin  when  you  tell  him  that  an  English- 
man's head  grows  in  precisely  the  same  place  as  that 
of  a  Chinese.  He  has  firmly  got  the  impression  that 
all  wisdom  and  all  sense  are  to  be  found  only  in  China, 
and  that  they  do  not  exist  outside  the  Celestial  Empire. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  poor  roads,  and  the  absence 
of  roads  where  they  ought  to  exist,  are  in  a  large 
measure  responsible  for  this.  True  enlightenment  in 
a  nation  is  impossible  where  the  roads  are  ^  farce, 
and  where  the  people,  out  of  contempt  for  other 
countries,  have  barred  their  gates  and  built  high  their 
walls  to  keep  out  aliens.  China's  step  in  the  progress 
of  the  world  has  been  stayed  by  bad  roads  and  by 
exclusiveness. 

Outside  of  these  small  roads  there  is  the  system 
known  as  the  *'  great  roads."  They  are  distinguished 
by  this  name,  not  because  there  is  generally  anything 
in  their  construction  to  make  them  deserve  it,  but 
because  they  are  main  thoroughfares,  along  which 
countless  masses  move  every  day  in  the  year.  In  this 
sense  they  may  truly  be  called  great,  otherwise  one 
who  has  often  used  them  could  without  any  departure 
from  the  truth  term  them  "  great  humbugs,"  *'  great 
failures,"  or  even  worse,  according  to  the  temper  he 
happens  to  be  in  at  the  time.  The  existence  of  a  great 
road  depends  entirely  upon  the  amount  of  traffic  that  is 
carried  on  between  one  province  and  another,  or  between 
particular  cities  that  are  famous  for  the  production 
of  any  special  article  of  merchandise.  As  far  as  possible 
they  run  in  straight  lines,  thus  imitating  the  old  Roman 
roads.  The  reason  for  this  is  obvious.  The  engineers 
and  surveyors,  in  the  first  instance,  were  not  scientific 
men  who  marked  them  out  with  chain  and  compass. 
The  real  layers-out  of  the  roads  were  the  coolies  with 


HIGHWAYS  AND  BYWAYS  281 

burdens  on  their  shoulders,  who  naturally  took  the 
shortest  route,  and  preferred  to  mount  a  hill  rather 
than  increase  their  toil  by  making  a  long  detour  around 
it.  The  crow  was  to  them  an  emblem  of  wisdom,  which 
they  never  forgot  in  the  laying  out  of  their  roads. 

But  let  me  describe  a  bit  of  one  of  these  "  great 
roads."  In  one  sense  it  is  a  truly  great  one,  for  it  runs 
from  Peking  in  the  far  north-east  to  Canton  in  the 
extreme  south-west,  for  two  thousand  miles  or  more. 
And  when  I  drop  my  readers  down  upon  it  the  first 
question  they  will  ask  is,  *'  Where  is  the  road?  "  I 
point  to  the  place  where  they  are  standing,  and  I  say, 
**  You  are  now  right  on  it,"  and,  pointing  to  the  moving 
figures  that  stretch  away  on  each  side  into  the  far 
distance,  I  tell  them  that  those  are  the  travellers  who 
are  walking  along  the  great  road  upon  which  they 
now  are.  The  only  sign  that  we  are  on  the  great 
road  is  the  fact  that  a  few  feet  in  the  centre  are  worn 
bare,  and  that  constant  streams  of  people  are  passing 
and  repassing  us  on  it.  It  is  here  about  four  feet  wide, 
and  is  hard  and  firm  simply  beca,use  it  is  on  a  rock 
foundation,  for  we  do  not  see  a  sign  that  art  has  ever 
stirred  a  finger  in  the  making  of  it.  We  move  along, 
amidst  fields  that,  without  hedge  or  fence  of  any  kind, 
come  up  to  the  very  edge  of  the  road.  We  skirt  little 
hills  and  journey  over  stone  pathways  three  or  four  feet 
in  width,  with  rice -fields  submerged  in  water  on  each 
side,  and  still  we  keep  hoping  that  the  really  broad 
and  substantial  highway  will  soon  be  reached,  but  it 
never  comes  in  sight  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  does 
not  exist.  By  and  by  we  reach  a  village,  embowered 
amidst  magnificent  trees  that  overhang  the  road  and 
cast  a  perfect  shadow  across  it.  This  is  one  of  the 
recognised  halting-places  that  abound  on  every  great 
road,  where  travellers  and  burden -bearers  can  get 
refreshment.  They  lie  about  a  mile  from  each  other, 
and  are  an  unspeakable  boon  to  the  weary  and  tired 
travellers  that  pass  along.  The  houses  facing  the  street 
have  been  turned  into  eating-houses,  where  rice  and 
sweet  potatoes,  hot  and  steaming,  can  be  had  at  a 
moment's  notice.  Square  tables  have  been  placed  in 
front  of  them,  and  on  these  are  piled  little  heaps  of 
ground   nuts,    also   chopsticks    and    bowls    appetisingly 


282    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OP  MODERN  CHINA 

laid  out,  so  as  to  tempt  the  passers-by  to  linger  and 
use  them. 

Let  us  sit  down  at  one  of  these  alfresco  tables 
to  take  a  slight  lunch,  or,  as  the  Chinese  more  poetically 
say,  **  a  repairer  of  the  soul."  We  grasp  the  chopsticks 
and  hold  up  a  hand  curved  into  the  shape  of  a  bowl, 
when,  without  a  word,  the  owner  of  the  shop  places  in 
it  a  small  basin  filled  with  smoking  rice  that  he  has 
just  scooped  out  of  an  iron  rice -pan  that  is  constantly 
kept  on  the  boil.  Little  saucers  that  lie  permanently 
on  the  table  for  the  use  of  customers  contain  pickled 
cucumber,  bean  curd,  or  red  salted  turnip,  and  from 
these,  as  our  eyes  wander  over  them,  we  deftly  pick 
out  with  our  chopsticks  delicate  bits  from  any  or  all, 
to  act  as  a  seasoning  to  the  somewhat  tasteless  rice. 
We  finish  up  with  a  small  heap  of  ground  nuts,  which 
we  leisurely  crack,  and  which  act  as  a  mild  kind  of 
dessert,  and  for  the  whole  we  pay  six  cash,  no  tips 
ever  being  given  or  expected  from  any  one  at  these 
alfresco  restaurants. 

The  place  we  have  selected  is  a  pleasant  one  to 
loiter  at  for  a  few  minutes,  for  the  boughs  of  a  great 
banyan  stretch  across  the  road,  and  their  luxuriant 
foliage  protects  us  from  the  sun*s  rays  that  play  ajnongst 
the  leaves  and  here  and  there  in  tiny  golden  streamlets 
flash  on  the  pathway  beneath.  Besides,  the  view  we 
get  of  human  life,  with  the  pains  and  sorrows  of  the 
men  that  pass  along  this  great  artery,  where  the  sound 
of  footsteps  never  ceases  the  livelong  day,  is  a  rare  one. 
To  the  great  majority  it  is  a  veritable  treadmill,  where 
human  strength  and  human  endurance  are  tested  to 
their  very  utmost.  The  crowd  that  moves  like  a  living 
panorama  before  us  is  a  varied  one.  There  are 
pedlars,  hucksters,  and  farmers  with  the  hall  mark  of 
the  sun  dyed  in  brown  on  their  faces,  and  with  a 
peculiar  list  in  their  gait  caused  by  the  severe  use 
of  the  hoe  ih  their  fields.  There  are  mandarin  mes- 
sengers, with  official  hats  and  proud  and  haughty  looks, 
carrying  dispatches  to  a  city  twenty  miles  away.  There 
are  scholars,  too,  with  the  literary  air  upon  them  that 
shines  through  poor  and  shabby  clothes  and  through 
shoes  that  are  kept  from  falling  to  pieces  only  by  the 
most  careful  nursing. 


HIGHWAYS  AND  BYWAYS  283 

But  the  men  that  most  predominate  on  this  dusty, 
wearisome  road  are  those  whose  hearts  seem  to  be 
breaking  through  the  severe  toil  they  have  to  endure 
in  order  to  earn  a  living  that  will  barely  keep  body 
and  soul  together.  And  here  is  an  instance  of  what  I 
mean.  A  man  comes  staggering  along  under  a.  burden 
that  is  positively  oppressive.  He  is  a  strong,  vigorous- 
looking  young  fellow,  between  twenty  and  thirty,  and 
as  fine  a  specimen  of  a  man  as  one  could  meet  with 
in  this  land  of  workers.  His  face  is  flushed  and  he 
breathes  hard  as  he  drops  his  load  in  front  of  where 
we  sit,  with  the  air  of  a  man  utterly  exhausted.  **  What 
is  the  weight  of  your  load?  '*  I  ask  him.  "  One  hun- 
dred and  eighty  pounds,"  he  replies,  as  he  wipes  the 
perspiration  that  is  running  down  his  cheeks.  **  But 
why  do  you  consent  to  carry  so  heavy  a  burden?  "  I 
again  inquire  of  him.  "  I  am  compelled  to  do  so,"  he 
at  once  answers,  **  for  if  I  make  it  any  lighter  I  shall 
have  no  money  to  take  home  to  my  family.  I  am  paid 
by  the  pound  weight,  and  if  I  reduce  the  pounds  I  at 
the  same  time  reduce  my  earnings,  and  my  home  will 
suffer.  Ahl  it  is  a  hard  world,"  he  continues,  "  and  a 
carrier  like  me  has  to  endure  a  great  deal  of  suffering 
to   earn   an  honest  living." 

Whilst  we  are  talking,  a  sedan-chair  comes  in  with 
a  rush.  It  is  borne  by  two  men  who  seem  thoroughly 
worn  out.  The  front  man  is  utterly  distressed.  His 
face  is  flushed  as  though  he  had  a,  high  fever.  His 
lips  are  bloodless,  and  he  has  an  overtaxed  look  about 
him  as  though  he  could  no  longer  endure  the  strain  that 
is  crushing  the  very  life  out  of  him.  The  rear  man  lets 
the  'poles  slowly  slip  to  the  ground,  whilst  the  other 
takes  them  from  his  hot,  blistered  shoulders  with  a 
look  of  pain  as  though  he  were  tearing  off  his  skin. 
Without  a  word  he  staggers  to  one  of  the  tables  and 
drops  i;nto  a  seat.  After  a  moment's  rest,  he  stretches 
out  his  hand,  gracefully  curved  into  the  shape  of  a 
bowl,  and  the  observant  attendant,  who  has  had  his  eye 
upon  him,  promptly  fills  it  with  a  basin  heaped  with 
steaming  rice.  There  is  a  rapid  and  graceful  movement 
of  the  chopsticks,  and  the  contents  of  the  bowl  disappear 
at  an  amazingly  quick  rate.  The  colour  comes  back 
to  his  lips,  and  the  weary  look  vanishes  from  his  face. 


284    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

Before  he  has  finished  the  basin  smiles  flash  over  his 
features,  Sijid  his  merry  bursts  of  laughter  send  their 
echoes  down  the  road.  After  a  few  whififs  of  a  bamboo 
pipe  that  he  always  carries  inserted  in  his  waistband, 
the  sedan  is  once  more  shouldered,  and  the  men  swing 
along  under  the  spreading  banyan  out  into  the  fiery 
road  beyond. 

Hardly  has  it  passed  out  of  sight  before  another 
halts  iB  the  place  just  vacated  by  it.  Both  the  bearers 
are  young,  sturdy  fellows,  and  we  can  see  that  though 
they  are  glad  enough  to  get  the  chair  off  their  shoulders, 
they  would  not  confess  that  to  any  one,  so  they  come  in 
with  a  jaunty  air  and  a  dash  of  bravado,  and  toss  the 
sedan  to  the  ground  as  though  it  were  a  plaything. 
Then  they  wipe  the  perspiration  from  their  faces,  and 
begin  to  chaff  some  of  the  other  bearers  that  raced  in 
behind  them,  and  soon  peals  of  laughter  and  sallies  of 
mother  wit  transform  the  place,  till  one  forgets  for  a 
moment  that  the  poor  fellows  are  wearing  out  their 
lives  in  as  severe  toil  as  falls  to  the  lot  of  workers  in 
any  part  of  the  world. 

As  we  pass  on  from  this  halting-place,  we  observe 
that  wherever  the  road  is  level  it  does  not  vary  much 
in  its  character.  It  is  always  poor,  as,  indeed,  it  must 
be  considering  that  no  one  is  responsible  for  keeping 
it  in  repair.  When,  however,  we  come  to  rising  ground, 
we  then  discover  into  what  a  miserable  state  a  great 
road  may  degenerate,  and  with  what  admirable  patience 
the  travelling  public  in  China  tolerates  what  in  England 
would  be  the  subject  of  public  indignation  until  it  was 
repaired  and  rendered  fit  for  general  use.  Right  in 
front  of  us  we  have  an  illustration  of  what  a  road 
may  become  when  left  to  its  own  management.  It  is 
now  a  narrow  ravine,  fully  twelve  feet  deep  in  the  centre, 
with  sloping  banks  on  either  side,  from  which,  in  the 
course  of  their  disintegration  by  the  wear  and  tear  of 
past  years,  stones  and  miniature  boulders  have  rolled 
into  the  middle  of  the  narrowing  gully.  All  the  traffic 
has  to  pass  along  the  very  base  of  this,  for  the  land 
on  each  side  of  the  elevated  banks  is  under  cultivation 
and,  consequently,  may  not  be  intruded  on  by  the 
passing  travellers.  In  wet  weather  this  is  most  trying, 
and  indeed  even  on  fine  days  the  poor  chair- bearers  have 


HIGHWAYS  AND  BYWAYS  285 

a  hard  time  of  it  in  carrying  their  fares  through.     As 
we  are  standing  at  this  miserable  pretence  of  a  road, 
a  sedan-chair  is  seen  approaching  the  mouth  of  this 
gully.    The  fare  is  a  stout,  comfortable- looking  Chinese, 
whilst  the  bearers  are  miserable  anatomies,  worn  down 
by  vice   and   opium-smoking,   and  apparently   unfit   to 
carry  the  big  man  in  the  chair  even  along  the  smoothest 
roads.    They  enter  the  ravine  with  mutterings  and  dark 
shadows   on   their  faces,   for   they  know  by  bitter   ex- 
perience exactly  what  they  are  going  to  meet.    Uneasily 
they  pick  their  way  through  the  slush  and  mire,  with 
sandals  covered  with  mud  and  with  language  hot  and 
sulphurous.     The  impediments  they  meet  with  are  no 
common  ones,  that  in  a  wider  roadway  they  could  dodge 
or  circumvent.     Here  each  one  has  to  be  met  and  con- 
quered on  the  spot.    But  by  and  by  they  come  to  a  stnall 
boulder  that  blocks  the  passage.      As  the  foremost  man 
comes  up  to  it,  he  eyes  it  with  an  evil  look.    He  glances 
hurriedly  at  each  side  of  it  to  see  if  there  is  no  way 
of  escape,  but  there  is  absolutely  none,  for  each  side 
of  it  is  barred  with  rubbish  and  sharp-pointed  stones 
that   make   walking   there  an   impossibility.      There   is 
nothing  left  for  him  but  to  mount  the  obstacle.     With 
a  shout  to  the  hinder  man  he  makes  a  dash  at  the  stone, 
and  by  a  mighty  effort,  he  is  on  the  top  of  it,  and  the 
chair  like  a  rearing  horse  has  thrown  the  fare  on  to 
his  back.     Another  shout,  with  an  imprecation  on  the 
mother   of  the   stone,   and  he   has   descended   from   it, 
whilst   the   rear  man   is   mounted  on   its   top,   and   the 
man  inside  the  chair  has  to  hold  on  like  grim  death  to 
prevent  himself  from  being  thrown  head  foremost  into 
the  slimy  road  in  front  of  him.     Another  jump  down, 
and   the  chair   is   once   more   even,   and   the   men   are 
panting  and  perspiring  with  the  efforts  they  have  made. 
In  spite  of  all  the  disadvantages  of  these  roads,  there 
are  still  many  compensations  to  the  man  who  has  an 
eye  for  the  beautiful,   for  very  often,   as   he  journeys 
along,  his  eye  is  rested  by  the  rare  sights  in  the  country 
around  that  make  him  forget  the  miseries  of  the  road 
over  which  he  is  travelling.     Mountain  ranges  that  seem 
to    pile    themselves    against    the    sky,    colossal    peaks 
glistening  like  golden  shafts  in  the  sunlight,  great  deep 
valleys  in  which  the  shadows  lie  the  greater  part  of  the 


286    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

year,  wide -spreading  landscapes  where  winding  streams 
flow  amid  rice-fields  and  under  the  shade  of  bamboo  and 
banyan-trees,  and  hamlets  embowered  in  woods,  are 
some  of  the  sights  that  may  be  seen  from  the  lofty 
passes  along  which  the  road  mounts,  as  it  stretches 
towards    its    distant    goal. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  things,  however,  that  one 
now  and  again  meets  with  on  these  wretched  roads  is 
the  bridges.  Our  walk  to-day  will  fortunately  bring  us 
to  a  very  famous  one,  and  from  it  we  shall  get  an  idea 
of  the  genius  of  the  Chinese  in  building  such.  As  we 
emerge  from  a  long,  straggling  street,  chiefly  con- 
spicuous for  its  slovenly,  untidy  look,  and  for  the  un- 
kempt, unwashed  appearance  of  its  inhabitants,  we 
suddenly  come  upon  a  scene  of  great  beauty.  Right 
in  front  of  us  stretches  a  stone  bridge  about  a  third  of 
a  mile  in  length  that  crosses  an  arm  of  the  sea.  Its 
natural  picturesqueness  lias  been  intensified  by  the 
scenery  that  surrounds  it.  With  the  sunl^eams  spark- 
ling on  the  water  around  it,  and  the  waves  sending  their 
gentle  showers  of  spray  against  the  piers,  it  seems  as 
though  it  might  have  been  formed  by  fairy  hands  and 
placed  here  to  make  men  forgfet  for  a  brief  space  the 
pain  and  weariness  they  have  to  endure.  On  one  side 
of  the  bridge  rise  high  mountains  that  are  bathed  in 
sunshine,  broken  only  by  the  great  rifts  in  their  sides 
where  deep  shadows  slumber,  whilst,  on  the  other,  the 
wide  bay  is  dotted  with  islets,  that  seem  to  rise  like 
sentinels  out  of  the  ocean  to  guard  the  bridge  from 
the  wild  and  impetuous  waves  that  are  often  driven  in 
by  storm  and  tempest. 

The  bridge  was  built  more  than  a  thousand  years 
ago.  Before  there  was  any  bridge  travellers  had  to 
cross  in  ferry-boats  ;  but  this  was  so  expensive  to  the 
porters,  whose  earnings  were  always  slight,  and  it  was, 
moreover,  attended  with  so  many 'risks,  that  a  wealthy 
scholar  determined  to  see  that  a  bridge  should  be  built 
that  would  be  a  perpetual  memorial  to  his  name,  and 
at  the  same  time  a  boon  to  all  succeeding  generations. 
It  was  a  difficult  undertaking,  for  it  was  not  to  be 
made  in  some  secluded  glen  where  it  would  be  sheltered 
from  storms  and  floods.  Here  the  winds  would  rage 
against   it   with   great   force.       The   rising  and   falling 


HIGHWAYS  AND  BYWAYS  287 

tides  would  wash  and  scour  around  the  foundations  of 
the  piers,  whilst  the  waters  aroun'd  it,  restless  and  moan- 
ing with  the  sound  of  the  ocean  in  their  voice,  would 
search  out  every  nook  and  cranny  in  its  masonry.  Deep 
and  solid  the  great  masses  of  stone  were  laid  many  feet 
below  the  bed  of  the  ocean,  and  pier  after  pier  rose  in 
massive  strength.  The  roadway  was  laid  with  huge 
slabs  of  stone  that  bound  the  piers  one  to  the  other, 
till  at  length  the  structure  was  complete,  and  it  was 
opened  for  public  use.  The  whole  expense  was  paid 
out  of  the  pocket  of  the  original  designer  and  out  of 
subscriptions  collected  from  all  classes  of  people  over 
a  wide  area,  who  were  entrusted  in  carrying  out  this 
benevolent  project.  Its  repair  since  then  has  been 
met  by  the  contributions  of  the  well-to-do,  and  has  not 
fallen  upon  the  Government. 

The  Chinese  have  some  very  peculiar  ideas  as  to  the 
rights  that  they  claim  to  possess  in  the  roads,  and  the 
liberty  they  assume  to  have  to  use  them  for  their  own 
private  convenience.  A  man,  for  example,  living  in  a 
crowded  thoroughfare,  only  six  feet  wide,  finds  that  his 
house,  which  abuts  directly  on  the  street,  needs  repair- 
ing. The  whole  front  wall  has  to  be  taken  down  and 
rebuilt.  He  calls  a  mason  and  a  carpenter  and  con- 
tracts with  them  to  do  the  work.  These  proceed  as 
calmly  and  as  indifferently  as  though  no  public  existed, 
and  take  possession  of  the  road  space  in  front  of  thq 
house.  The  builder  mixes  mortar  on  it,  and  the  car- 
penter planes  his  beams  and  planks  close  beside  him. 
The  street  is  turned  into  a  veritable  workshop,  and 
no  one  ever  dreams  of  considering  what  the  public  may 
say.  The  Chinese,  being  distinguished  by  the  absence 
of  nerves,  and  out  of  consideration  of  the  fact  that  the 
householder  had  nowhere  else  to  put  his  workmen,  say 
nothing.  The  public  come  up  to  t'he  heap  of  mortar, 
wet  and  sticky,  that  lies  right  in  the  centre  of  the  road, 
gaze  at  it  for  a  moment  and  then  either  jump  over  it, 
or  cautiously  edge  their  way  around  it.  A  sedan-chair 
approaches  with  a  swing,  and  with  a  shout  from  the 
bearers  *'  Give  way  1  give  way  !  we  shall  knock  you 
down  1  stand  aside  I  stand  aside  !  "  as  a  polite  hint 
to  the  people  in  front  to  scatter  to  the  sides,  it  fills 
nearly  the  whole  available  space  of  the  street.     How  in 


288    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

the  name  of  fortune  is  it  to  surmount  this  obstacle 
that  hes  Hke  a  barrier  rig^ht  across  the  way?  The 
bearers  come  up,  hesitate  for  an  instant,  and  swear 
most  profanely,  but  all  in  a  pleasant  tone.  The  front 
man  gives  a  howl  to  the  rear  one,  and  makes  a  plunge 
and  a  jump  that  lands  him  on  the  outer  edge  of  the  wet 
compound,  soiling  his  sandals  and  causing  a  fresh  out- 
burst of  expletives  that  no  modest  person  would  wish 
to  listen  to.  The  after  man  does  the  same,  and  they 
proceed  along  the  road  grumbling  and  growling  at 
what  they  would  not  for  the  world  wish  to  have  rectified. 

Or  again,  it  may  happen  that  a  shopkeeper's  birthday 
comes  round,  and  his  family  with  one  accord  agree  that 
the  only  worthy  way  to  celebrate  it  is  by  having  a  play. 
His  wife,  beaming  with  smiles,  declares  that  nothing  will 
satisfy  her  but  a  play.  The  boys,  with  almond-shaped 
eyes  glistening  at  the  idea,  jump  for  joy  at  the  thought 
of  having  one  all  to  themselves,  and  of  thus  becoming 
the  envy  of  their  playfellows.  What  a  jolly  time  they 
will  have  looking  at  the  antics  of  the  actors,  and  listen- 
ing to  the  deafening  noise  of  drum  and  cymbal  that  take 
occasional  fits  of  madness  during  the  performance,  when 
the  pent-up  feelings  of  the  performers  can  find  no  other 
adequate  means  of  expressing  the  deep  emotions 
of  their  hearts.  Arrangements  are  at  once  made  with 
the  chief  of  some  Thespian  band,  and  a  popular  play 
having  been  selected  from  the  repertory  that  will  ensure 
plenty  of  laughter,  the  stage  is  put  up  right  in  front 
of  the  shop  door,  blocking  up  the  entire  road  and 
putting  a  stop  to  all  traffic.  Whilst  the  play  is  going 
on  that  particular  section  of  the  road  cannot  be  used. 
Men  with  heavy  burdens  on  their  shoulders  come  up  to 
the  edge  of  the  crowd  that  is  convulsed  with  laughter  at 
some  side-splitting  joke,  and  without  a  frown  upon  their 
faces  turn  back  and  by  a  considerable  detour  reach  their 
destination.  All  classes  recognise  that  a  theatrical  ex- 
hibition overrides  all  the  rights  of  the  public.  It  is  only 
the  mandarin  that  would  attempt  to  interfere  with  it. 
Let  but  the  sound  of  the  gongs  that  herald  his  coniing: 
be  heard,  and  at  once  the  actors  fly  from  the  stage,  and 
a  hundred  willing  hands  take  it  to  pieces  to  let  the 
"  great  man  "  pass. 

But  it  is  not  simply  these  temporary  blockings  up 


HIGHWAYS  AND  BYWAYS  289 

of  the  highway  that  show  the  peculiar  ideas  that  the 
Chinese  have  as  to  the  ownership  of  the  public  roads. 
The  rights  of  the  pubUc  are  further  infringed  upon  by 
certain  classes  of  people  who  seem  to  do  most  of  their 
work  upon  the  streets.  The  barber  shaves  his  customers 
on  the  pathway.  The  peripatetic  cooli  with  his 
travelling  restaurant  chooses  a  comer  where  the  hungry 
gather  round  him  and,  sitting  on  their  heels,  sliovel  down 
his  delicacies  with  their  chopsticks.  The  pork-butcher 
blowing  his  conch -shell  takes  up  a  prominent  position 
on  the  street,  and  chaffers  with  his  customers,  whilst 
the  passengers  have  to  make  their  way  around  as  best 
they  may.  In  fact,  carpenters,  bricklayers,  public  letter- 
writers,  old  women  who  earn  a  precarious  living  by 
mending  clothes,  the  travelling  sweets -and-candy  man 
and  the  whole  liost  of  peddlers,  practically  claim  the 
"highway  as  having  been  specially  made  for  their  con- 
venience. But  a  chang'e  is  beginning  to  dawn  upon 
the  spirit  of  the  nation  that  in  the  near  future  will 
revolutionise  the  great  roads  at  the  very  least.  Tele- 
graphs have  been  introduced,  and  their  wires,  teeming 
with  invisible  spirits,  that  hum  and  sing  a  language 
of  their  own,  stretch  from  province  to  province,  over 
high  mountains,  across  boundless  plains,  and  through 
lonely  hamlets.  Railroads,  too,  have  been  constructed 
in  several  parts  of  the  empire,  and  the  scream  of  the 
engine  has  startled  the  air,  and  given  a  new  impulse 
to  thought,  and  awakened  men  out  of  the  long  sleep 
of  ages.  There  is  a  good  time  coming  for  China,  and 
the  weary,  footsore  traveller  shall  have  rest,  the  sedan- 
chair  shall  vanish,  and  commerce  and  civilisation  shall 
glide  along  the  new  roads  that  an  awakened  China  shall 
have  made. 


M 


CHAPTER    XXII 

BEGGARS 

China,  looked  at  from  a  scenic  point  of  view,  is  a 
remarkable  country.  Scenery  as  grand  and  as  magnifi- 
cent as  can  be  seen  in  any  other  land  is  to  be  found 
in  nearly  every  province  of  the  empire.  Ranges  of 
mountains,  fertile  valleys,  and  mighty  rivers  that  take 
their  rise  far  away  in  the  cloudland  of  the  West,  are 
the  forces  with  which  Nature,  with  her  artistic  hand, 
has  fashioned  the  views  and  landscapes  that  abound 
throughout  this  great  and  magnificent  country. 

But  it  is  not  simply  for  its  natural  scenery  that  it  is 
so  distinguished.  It  is  specially  rich  in  all  kinds  of 
minerals.  Its  mountains  contain  within  them  vast 
deposits  of  coal,  whilst  hills,  solid  with  iron  ore,  stare 
the  people  in  the  face  and  promise  them  boundless 
riches.  It  is  a  land  where  plenty  should  abound,  did 
the  people  know  how  to  transmute  the  riches  that  lie  so 
thickly  strewn  throughout  the  land  into  gold  and  silver. 
Superstition,  however,  has  laid  its  grim  hand  upon  all 
this  natural  wealth  and  forbidden  its  development.  The 
result  is  that  the  great  mass  of  the  common  people  sufifer 
from  extreme  poverty,  so  that  the  daily  question  with 
large  numbers  is  how  they  are  to  keep  body  and  soul 
together. 

That  the  struggle  for  existence  is  most  acute  is  evi- 
denced by  the  fact  of  the  extreme  thrift  of  the  Chinese. 
It  would  be  absolutely  safe  to  say  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  waste,  especially  of  food,  known  in  China. 
Everything  is  used  up,  everything  is  utilised,  and  what 
we  would  throw  away,  as  not  worth  keeping,  is  here 
laid  up  for  future  use. 

The  Chinese  makes  a  noble  stand  for  independence, 
but  the  line  between  extretne  poverty  and  beggary  is 


BEGGARS  291 

frequently  so  narrow  that  the  passag'e  from  one  to  the 
other  is  an  exceedingly  easy  one.  There  are  no  poor- 
houses  and  no  poor  rates,  consequently  those  who, 
through  misfortune  or  vice,  have  lost  their  means  of 
subsistence  have  to  take  to  the  beg'gar's  wallet,  ^  and 
depend  upon  the  charity  of  the  public  for  a  miserable 
existence.  The  Chinese  beggar  appears  to  lead  a 
roving,  irresponsible  life.  He  has  no  property  and 
apparently  no  family  ties.  It  would  seem,  therefore, 
as  though  it  would  be  difficult  for  the  law  to  take 
cognisance  of  his  doings,  but  this  is  a  mistake.  The  fact 
is  he  is  under  closer  supervision  than  are  the  respect- 
able and  well-to-do  in  the  community.  The  Chinese  law 
is  a  dragon  that  keeps  an  eye  upon  all  classes  of 
society,  but  more  especially  upon  those  that  might  be 
dangerous  to  the  State.  The  authorities,  therefore,  have 
appointed  a  headman  whose  special  business  it  is  to 
look  after  the  beggars.  He  is  supposed  to  know  every- 
thing about  them,  and  when  the  mandarins  wish  to 
inquire  into  any  matter  concerning  them  he  is  the  person 
to  iwhom  they  refer.  The  beggar  is  too  unsavoury  a 
character  to  be  allowed  to  live  within  the  limits  of  the 
town.  The  Chinese  nose  is  an  easy-g'oing  one,  and  can 
stand  smells  that  would  knock  an  ordinary  English 
donkey  down.  A  collection  of  odours,  however,  such  as 
can  be  found  in  the  beggars'  camp  is  too  much  even  for 
a  Chinese.  A  camp,  accordingly,  is  formed  on  some 
waste  land,  outside  the  town,  not  too  near  to  offend 
the  susceptibilities  of  the  residents  and  not  too  far  to 
make  it  difficult  for  the  wretched  men  and  women  to  go 
their  rounds  in  its  narrow  streets  and  alleyways. 

The  Chinese  beggar  is,  to  my  mind,  one  of  the  most 
wretched  specimens  of  humanity  in  the  empire.  There 
is  no  mistaking  the  man.  The  English  mendicant  is, 
compared  with  him,  a  royal  personage,  who  dresses 
magnificently  and  lives  luxuriously.  His  Chinese 
confrere  is  very  different  from  him.  He  comes  out 
broadly  and  abruptly  as  a  genuine  beggar.  Every 
feature  about  him  is  in  the  most  hideous  and  realistic 
form,    so   as    to   touch   the    sympathies    of   the    public. 

*  The  beggar's  wallet,  which  is  distinctive  of  his  calling,  is  made  out 
of  a  kind  of  matting.  In  this  he  stores  the  rice  and  broken  bits  of  food 
that  the  benevolent  give  him. 


292    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

The  spectacle  of  a  small  family,  dressed  with  scrupulous 
neatness,  mutely  appealing^  to  the  passers-by  with  a  card 
that  says,  **  We  are  starving,"  would  excite  only  the 
laughter  and  scorn  of  every  one  who  sees  them. 
"  What?  "  they  would  say,  **  beg  with  such  clothes  as 
these  you  have  on  !  Why  not  sell  them  or  pawn  them, 
and  use  the  money  to  start  some  huckstering  business 
that  would  enable  you  to  earn  your  own  living?  "  The 
public  heart  would  be  as  tightly  closed  against  them 
as  would  the  heart  of  the  miser  against  those  who  sought 
to  unloose  his  purse  strings. 

But  let  me  describe  a  typical  beggar.  Here  is  one 
sitting  by  the  roadside.  He  is  a  great,  hulking  fellow 
of  about  fifty.  His  clothes  are  in  rags,  but  not  in  the 
general  sense  in  which  we  are  accustomed  to  use  that 
word.  His  are  literally  in  tatters,  and  how  they  manage 
to  hang  to  each  other  is  a  mystery.  It  would  seem  as 
though  the  first  blast  of  wind  would  scatter  them  like 
autumn  leaves  and  leave  the  man  as  bare  as  a  pair 
of  tongs.  How  many  dilapidated  garments  have  gone 
to  the  making  up  of  his  wardrobe  it  would  be  impossible 
to  tell.  Colours  intermix  with  colours  and  bits  of  cloth 
hang  side  by  side  the  memory  of  whose  ancestry  must 
have  long  since  faded  away. 

If  the  clothes  are  wretched,  so  is  the  human  frame 
of  the  man  they  cover.  His  hair,  instead  of  being 
neatly  plaited,  is  matted  and  dishevelled.  No  comb 
could  ever  find  its  way  through  such  a  tangled  wilder- 
ness. His  face  is  coated  with  dirt.  It  lies  in  layers 
in  the  wrinkles  and  hollows  of  his  face,  whilst  his  hands 
are  covered  with  a  kind  of  scaly  armour,  composed  of 
the  same  substance,  that  seems  like  an  adaptation  of 
Nature  to  protect  him  from  the  one  thing  that  his  soul 
abhors,  viz.,  water.  The  most  offensive  thing,  how- 
ever, about  him  is  one  of  his  legs  ;  this  he  thrusts  out 
most  ostentatiously  before  the  passers-by,  very  much  as 
a  shopkeeper  displays  his  wares  to  induce  people  to 
buy.  A  huge  sore  has  eaten  away  nearly  all  the  flesh 
from  the  front  part  of  it.  It  is  raw  and  bleeding,  and 
the  man  points  to  it  as  you  come  near  and,  in  the  pro- 
fessional whine,  tries  to  excite  your  sympathies. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  with  the  Chinese  beggar 
these  diseases,  which  constitute  his  stock-in-trade,  are 


BEGGARS  293 

always  in  the  right  place.  They  are  never  seen  on 
the  back  of  the  legs,  nor  on  other  parts  of  the  body 
that  could  not  easily  be  exhibited  to  the  public.  They 
never  seem  to  get  either  better  or  worse.  In  the 
summer  days,  when  the  great  sun  pours  down  his  fierce 
rays,  and  bloated,  vicious -looking  flies  swarm  in  clouds, 
it  seems  to  make  no  difference  to  them.  Again,  when 
winter  comes  round  and  Nature  tries  her  healing  art 
to  close  the  festering  wounds  she  does  so  without  any 
success.  The  cold  north  winds  blow  around  him,  but 
with  no  healing  in  their  touch,  and  then  he  sits  .in 
some  sheltered  nook,  shivering  with  cold,  but,  fortu- 
nately for  him,  the  sore  that  brings  him  in  the  cash  is 
as  hideous  as  ever. 

The  begging  fraternity  is  under  the  control  of  a 
head-man,  to  whom  the  mandarin  has  delegated  very 
extensive  powers.  As  it  would  interfere  with  the  busi- 
ness of  the  shopkeepers  to  have  the  ragged  crew  pester- 
ing them  during  business  hours  and  driving  away 
customers  by  their  presence,  this  man  contracts  with 
each  of  them  for  a  monthly  payment,  which  he  collects 
from  them.  To  show  that  such  an  engagement  has  been 
entered  into  he  pastes  the  beggar  symbol,  viz.,  a  gourd, 
over  his  door,  as  a  sign  that  the  house  has  been  made 
free  from  beggars.  Should  a  shopkeeper  be  so  unwise 
as  to  refuse  to  pay  this  tax  the  head-man  has  a  very 
simple  remedy  that  will  in  one  day  bring  him  to  his 
knees. 

He  merely  intimates  to  his  ragged  army  that  they 
must  carry  on  the  negotiations  themselves  as  he  has 
failed,  and  to-morrow  morning  fifty  or  sixty  of  the 
wildest  and  most  unkempt  of  the  band  will  appear 
before  the  shopman's  door.  All  business  is  simply 
at  an  end  whilst  they  remain  there.  The  narrow  street 
is  blocked,  so  that  the  passage  to  and  fro  is  rendered 
difficult.  As  passers-by  come  up  to  the  congested  spot 
they  avert  their  faces  and  hold  their  noses  to  avoid 
the  odour  from  the  unsavoury  crowd. 

All  is  noise  and  hubbub,  for  each  beggar  is  holding 
forth  on  the  misery  of  Jiis  lot  and  inveighing  against 
the  hard-hearted  shopkeeper  who  refuses  out  of  his 
abundance  to  perform  an  act  of  charity.  Before  many 
minutes  have  elapsed   this   unfortunate   individual   has 


294    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

come  to  terms  and  the  agreetnent  to  pay  the  monthly 
tax  has  been  made. 

The  gourd  is  at  once  pasted  up,  and  the  matter  is 
thus  far  amicably  settled.  In  order,  however,  to  com- 
pensate the  beggars  for  the  trouble  they  have  taken 
in  paying  him  this  friendly  visit  he  gives  each  one  a 
cash,  which  they  receive  with  smiling  faces,  and  in  order 
to  save  the  shopkeeper's  face,  they  begin  to  praise 
him  for  his  generosity^  and  with  grim  humour  they 
declare  that  he  brought  them  out  to-day  simply  out  of 
love  for  them  and  that  he  might  personally  make  their 
acquaintance  and  bestow  his  gifts  upon  them. 

The  very  poorest  of  the  shopkeepers,  who  cannot 
afford  to  pay  a  monthly  tax,  are  visited  on  the  first  and 
fifteenth  of  the  month  by  a  contingent  of  beggars,  who 
get  their  pay  from  him  in  person.  They  come  in  a 
long  string  that  winds  in  and  out  of  the  narrow  streets 
like  a  serpent.  They  are  a  motley  crowd,  made  up  of 
the  lame,  the  blind,  and  the  halt,  who  usually  are  content 
to  sneak  their  way  along  the  streets  in  search  of  alms, 
but  who  to-day  face  the  public  with  the  look  of  men  who 
have  the  right  to  do  so.  The  line  is  headed  by  a 
sturdy,  bold-faced  rascal,  who  does  the  talking  and 
disputing  should  there  be  any.  His  hair  hangs  dis- 
orderly about  his  face  and  escapes  in  loose  tufts  from 
his  queue.  His  hands  are  black  with  the  accumulated 
dirt  of  years,  and  his  face  has  a  fierce  look  upon  it  as 
though  he  felt  he  was  in  an  enemy's  land  and  must  be 
prepared  to  fight  his  way  through  it.  Immediately  after 
him  comes  a  man  with  a  banjo,  which  he  occasionally 
twangs  just  to  make  things  pleasant.  He  is  one  of 
the  musical  class,  and  because  of  his  long  and  varied 
experience,  but  chiefly  because  the  spirit  of  music  is 
in  his  heart,  he  cannot  keep  his  fingers  off  the  strings, 
and  so  he  marches  down  the  street  to  the  sound  of  his 
own  tune.  Behind  him  is  a  blind  man,  whose  left  hand 
rests  upon  his  shoulder.  His  very  eyeballs  have  dis- 
appeared, and  deep  caverns  show  where  they  once  were. 
He  holds  his  face  up  to  the  sun  as  though  he  would  catch 
the  flash  of  his  rays,  to  get,  if  possible,  a  glimpse  of 
the  world  that  is  now  hidden  from  his  gaze.  The 
face  is  a  most  piteous  one  to  look  at  and  wie  feel  our 
sympathies  drawn  out  towards  him  as  he  mutters  to 


AMAH   AND   CHILD. 


BEGGARS  295 

himself  the  time-worn  sentences  about  his  misery  that 
he  is  accustomed  to  use  to  draw  forth  the  charity  of 
the  benevolent.  As  each  one  comes  up  to  the  counter, 
that  always  abuts  on  the  street  the  shopkeeper  stands 
waiting  and  gives  him  one  cash.  .Without  a  word  he 
passes  on,  quite  satisfied,  apparently,  with  a  donation 
that  venerable  custom  declares  to  be  ample. 

Besides  this  power  of  levying  what  is  really  di  poorj 
rate   on   the   warehouses   and  shops   of   the   town,   the 
beggars  have  a  number  of  recognised  privileges  which 
bring  them  in  a  certain  income.     For  example,   they 
are  entitled  to  a  fee  on  the  occasion  of  a  marriage. 
The  size   of  this   will  depend  upon-  the  circumstances 
of  the  home  where  the  marriage  is  to  take  place.     The 
beggars  seem  to   have  an  intelligence  department  of 
their   own   that   gives   them   precise   information   as   to 
every  marriage  that  has  been  arranged,  and  the  exact 
day  and  hour  when  it  is  to  come  off.     If  it  is  a  well- 
to-do  family!,  it  will  be  prudent  for  it  to  arrange  with 
the  headman  what  the  fee  shall  be,  otherwise  the  most 
unpleasant  results  may  be  expected.    Recently  a  wealthy 
man,  well  known  for  his  parsimony,  informed  the  head- 
man that  his  son  was  going  to  be  married,  and  offered 
a  fee  that  was  out  of  all  proportion  to  his  wealth.     It 
was,  of  course,  indignantly  refused  as  utterly  insufficient. 
A  prolonged  altercation  ended  in  the  rich  man  defying 
the  headman  to  do  his  worst  and  declaring  that  there 
would   be   no   advance   upon   the   sum   proffered   him. 
The   chief,    accustomed   to    deal   with   the   very   worst 
elements  of  Chinese  society,  had  learned  by  long  ex- 
perience not  to  lose  his  temper,  so  he  replied  :  **  Well, 
if  you  are  determined  not  to  give  the  amount  I   deem 
reasonable,  I   must   leave   it  to  others   to  arrange  the 
matter  with  you."     As  he  said  this  a  smile  crept  over 
his  grimy  face,  the  corners  of  his  mouth  puckered  up, 
and   laughter   lurked   in   his   eyes,   as   though   he   bad 
before  his  mind's  eye  a  vision  of  the  scene  that  would 
take  place  in  the  very  midst  of  the  wedding  festivities. 

The  wedding  day  arrived.  The  bride  had  been 
carried  in  her  crimson  chair  to  her  new  home,  and  the 
friends  and  guests  were  full  of  mirth  and  rejoicing, 
when  a  shadow  fell  upon  the  sunbeams  that  were  play- 
ing about  the  door.     A  beggar  comedy  was  now  about 


296    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

to  be  played,  mainly  foi^  the  a:muselnent  of  the  actors,, 
who  rarely  had  a.  chance  of  displaying  their  histrionic 
powers  before  sOi  select  an  audience.  The  shadow  on 
the  doorstep  was  that  of  a  woman  of  hideous  aspect. 
Her  hair  was  ai  perfect  wilderness  of  disorder.  Her 
face  was  a  thoroughly  bad  one,  and  traces  of  dissipa- 
tion were  seen  in  the  hard,  coarse  features,  from  which 
every  womanly  look  had  vanished.  Her  clothes,  which 
hung  about  her  in  rags,  told  in  eloquent  language  of 
the  loss  of  character  she  had  suffered.  No  touch  of 
art  was  seen  about  them  and  no  deft  fingers  had  tried 
to  arrange  them,  so  that  she  should  appear  to  the  best 
advantage  in  the  poor  things  in  which  she  was  clad. 
They  were  slovenly  and  untidy,  and  they  seemed  to 
have  been  pitched  upon  her  as  though  it  had  never  been 
a  woman's  duty  to  care  how  her  things  looked.  Stepping 
boldly  inside  the  courtyard,  she  began,  in  the  mendicant 
whine,  to  ask  for  alms.  The  people  tried  to  stop  her 
and  in  loud  and  angry  tones  bade  her  begone.  She 
never  budged  an  inch,  but  went  on  calmly  with  her 
appeal,  the  only  difference  being  that  her  attitude 
became  more  bold  and  her  voice  slightly  more  insolent. 
But  soon  the  attention  of  the  household  is  taken  from 
the  woman  that  begs  so  fiercely  to  other  forms  that 
appear  at  the  door.  A  dissipated  fellow  in  true  beggar 
uniform  walks  boldly  in  and,  in  a  loud  voice,  almost 
demands  that  something  shall  be  given  him.  His  face 
has  a  scowl  upon  it,  which  is  rendered  all  the  more 
forbidding  by  his  hair  falling  in  ragged  tufts  over  his 
forehead  and  eyes,  and  giving  him  a  bold  and  savage 
appearance. 

Immediately  after  him  came  a  blind  man,  led  by 
two  wan,  emaciated  opium-smokers,  who  guided  the 
sightless  man  into  the  very  room  where  the  guests  were 
assembled  and  where  they  joined  in  the  loud  clamour 
for  alms.  The  guests  began  to  be  alarmed,  but  the 
stream  of  beggars  has  only  just  begun  to  flow.  Men 
with  ulcerated  legs,  and  lepers  with  faces  marred  and 
blotched  with  unhealthy  spots,  and  fingers  twisted  and 
turned  into  the  palms,  that  never  again  could  be 
straightened,  and  men  with  visages  rendered  disgust- 
ing and  horrible  by  disease  and  the  hardships  of  their 
life,  march  in  as  though  the  house  were  their  own,  and 


BEGGARS  297 

take  up  the  cry  that  now  fills  the  place  with  its  deafening 
noise.  It  would  seem,  indeed,  as  though  the  whole  of 
the  beggars'  camp  had  determined  tO'  attend  the 
marriage  festivities,  for  the  number  that  press  round 
the  door  and  throng  the  street  beyond,  unable  to  get 
into  the  house,  must  be  fully  two  hundred.  It  is  a 
high  festival  for  the  beggars,  for  they  are  there  by 
order  of  their  king,  and  no  law  can  touch  them  for  what 
they  are  doing  to-day.  In  the  midst  of  all  their  revelry 
and  noise  they  are  careful  to  commit  no  act  that  shall 
bring  their  headman,  who  is  responsible  for  their  con- 
duct, within  the  clutches  of  the  law.  No  person  is 
touched  and  not  an  article  is  stolen.  They  simply  shout 
and  whine  and  beg  in  every  beggar  tone  they  know,  till 
the  rich  man  and  his  guests  are  so  horrified  that  a 
messenger  is  sent  post  haste  to  summon  the  headman  to 
disperse  the  unruly  rabble  that  have  turned  his  house 
into  a  pandemonium.  After  a  time  he  leisurely  walks 
in  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye  and  a  dazed  kind  of  look 
about  his  face  as  though  he  were  astonished  at  being 
called  in  this  summary  way  from  his  home.  The  rich 
man,  who  has  lost  '*  face  "  amongst  his  guests,  begs 
him  to  dismiss  his  unsavoury  subjects  and  eagerly 
promises  to  agree  to  the  sum  that  had  been  demanded 
from  him. 

The  headman  is  master  of  the  situation,  but  he  deals 
generously  with  his  fallen  foe,  so  with  a  wave  of  his 
hand,  as  potent  as  that  of  the  most  famous  magician,, 
he  disperses  the  unruly  and  the  ragged  crowd  of  lepers  ; 
blind,  diseased,  and  maimed  g;radually  file  off  and  leave 
the  building  to  the  wedding  guests.  The  king  then 
pastes  his  royal  emblem  over  the  door  as  an  intimation 
to  any  of  his  people  that  might  stray  that  way  that 
the  fees  had  been  paid  and  the  guests  must  not  be 
disturbed. 

Besides  the  regular  and  permanent  fraternity  of 
beggars  there  is  another  class  that  visits  the  town, 
but  only  occasionally.  .When  they  do  come,  however, 
they  cause  more  commotion  and  more  dissatisfaction 
than  any  equal  number  of  the  resident  fraternity  could 
possibly  do.  They  are  called  the  *'  wandering 
criminals,"  and  are  a  special  feature  of  this  country, 
such  as  could   be   found  in  no  other.      The   Chinese 


298    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

are  an  eminently  business-like  people  and  yet  withal 
philosophical.  There  is  nothing  of  the  mystic  about 
them,  and  their  abstrusest  thoughts  always  run  into 
the  practical.  The  fathers  of  the  race  laid  it  down 
as  an  axiomatic  truth  that  no  criminal  should  be  an 
absolute  burden  on  society. 

We  feed  our  prisoners  with  good,  wholesome  food 
and  lodge  them  in  spacious  buildings.  We  provide 
doctors  to  look  after  their  health  and  hospitals  where 
they  can  be  treated  when  they  are  sick.  The  Chinese 
do  not  believe  in  this.  The  criminal,  they  say,  has 
wronged  society  ;  why,  then,  should  society  be  still 
further  punished  by  having  to  keep  the  evildoer  in 
comparative  luxury?  A  prisoner,  therefore,  in  China, 
has  to  be  fed  either  by  himself  or  his  friends.  If 
he  has  no  money  and  no  friends,  the  mandarins  will 
then  allow  him  the  merest  pittance — that  is,  barely 
sufficient  to  keep  body  and  soul  together.  If  he  gets 
sick,  or  dies,  that  is  his  business  and  does  not  concern 
the  authorities.  The  Chinese  have  a  very  interesting 
way  of  dealing  with  offenders  of  the  more  criminal  type. 
Instead  of  shutting  them  up  in  prison  they  are  some- 
times condemned  to  be  banished  to  a  distant  province, 
where  they  must  move  ceaselessly  about  from  place 
to  place  within  it  and  beg  their  living  as  they  go.  It 
is  a  terrible  sentence,  but  it  is  carried  out  without 
any  expense  to  the  State,  for  from  the  moment  that 
they  start  on  their  long  journey  to  the  province  where 
they  are  to  expiate  their  crime  till  the  time  they  have 
been  sentenced  to  this  wandering  life  is  up  they  must 
support  themselves   by  begging. 

But  let  me  describe  these  men.  One  day  in  passing 
through  a  crowded  thoroughfare  I  came  upon  four  of 
these  "  wandering  criminals."  Coming  upon  them 
suddenly,  I  was  startled  by  their  wild  and  savage 
aspect.  They  had  the  appearance  of  being  a  very 
bad  type  of  men,  that  had  suddenly  sprung  from  the 
lowest  slums  of  a  great  city  and  were  ready  for  the 
commission  of  any  crime.  They  clearly  wanted  to  give 
the  people  an  idea  of  their  ferocity  in  order  to  hasten 
the  flow  of  the  cash  they  demanded  from  each  shop. 
Their  hair  was  not  done  up  in  the  ordinary  pigtail, 
but  was  allowed  to  hang  disordered  and  uncombed  at 


BEGGARS  299 

its  own  free  will.  Stray  tufts  fell  down  over  their 
foreheads,  and  through  these  flashed  the  black,  restless- 
looking  eyes  which  seemed  almost  to  strike  terror  into 
the  occupants  of  the  shop.  Each  one  had  one  of  his 
hands  bound  to  his  ankle  by  a  loose,  heavy  chain, 
which  he  clanked  ominously  as  if  to  hint  that  any  resist- 
ance to  his  demands  for  money  would  end  in  a  fierce 
and  fatal  onslaught.  The  methods  of  these  men  were 
very  different  from  those  of  the  ordinary  beggar  who 
whines  out  his  request  in  the  humblest  tones,  and  who 
receives  the  insults  that  are  hurled  at  him  in  the  very 
meekest  and  the  most  subtnissive  manner. 

These  **  wandering  criminals  "  spoke  in  loud  and 
domineering  tones  and  in  a  rough  northern  dialect 
that  the  people  of  the  south  did  not  understand.  It 
was  an  unknown  language,  but  the  clanking  chains^ 
fiercely  flashing  eyes,  and  savage  looks  put  a  menace 
into  the  stormy  language  of  the  north  that  prevented 
the  people  from  resenting  this  unusual  onslaught  on 
their  pockets.  Besides,  every  one  knew  that  there  woiuld 
be  no  profit  in  resisting  these  scoundrels,  for  each  man 
carried  with  him  a  permit  from  the  local  mandarin  to 
solicit  alms  from  the  town,  and  so  each  hastened  to 
fling  them  a  cash  and  wave  them  off  to  the  next  door. 
These  men  seemed  to  be  a  positive  danger  to  the  town 
and  to  be  outside  of  all  law,  but  that  was  not  so.  They 
knew  that  they  could  bluster  and  shout  and  rattle  their 
chains  as  much  as  they  liked,  but  if  they  attempted 
to  commit  any  overt  act  against  any  of  the  people 
the  grip  of  the  law  would  have  been  upon  them  in  a 
moment.  Certainly  there  did  not  exist  a  single  police- 
man in  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  city  to 
apprehend  them,  and  there  seemed  no  one  ready  to 
defend  law  and  order  in  case  of  a  row.  But  still  the 
law  had  its  eye  upon  them  all  the  time,  for  it  was  abso- 
lutely certain  that  on  the  outside  of  the  crowd  that 
surged  around  to  look  at  these  northern  villains  the 
Tipao,  dressed  like  any  ordinary  coolie,  stood  care- 
lessly by  smoking  his  long  bamboo  pipe,  ready  at  ja 
moment's  notice  to  intervene  and  drag  them  off  tq 
prison. 

Besides  the  beggars  above  mentioned,  there  is  a 
great  variety  of  independent  wandering  poor  that  refuse 


300    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

to  come  under  any  general  classification  or  to  enrol 
themselves  among  the  professed  beggars  of  the  district. 
Some  of  these  endeavour  to  charm  the  cash  out  of 
the  pockets  of  the  benevolent  by  playing  on  musical 
instruments  of  the  most  primitive  and  unmusical  type. 
One  of  these  is  an  elementary  fiddle  of  one  string 
played  by  a  single-stringed  bow.  Another  is  a  hollow 
section  of  bamboo,  struck  with  the  first  three  fingers 
and  producing  a  sound  that  reminds  one  a  little  of 
a  drum.  The  third  is  simply  two  pieces  of  fiat  bamboo 
that  are  artistically  made  to  flap  against  each  other, 
with  the  result  that  a  noise  is  made  but  very  little 
harmony.  If  the  public  give  any  alms  to  the  per- 
formers on  the  above  inharmonious  instruments,  it  must 
be  simply  to  get  rid  of  them  and  not  because  their 
souls  have  been  touched  into  charity  by  the  sweet 
influences  of  music. 

A  study  of  the  beggar  system  is  a  most  interesting 
one,  and  especially  the  exquisite  art  that  enables  the 
headman  to  extract  from  so  wretched  and  miserable 
a  body  of  men  as  they,  not  simply  a  competence  that 
enables  him  to  live  with  his  family  in  comparative 
luxury,  but  also  to  build  houses  and  buy  lands  that 
he  may  leave  to  his  children.  But  those  who  have  lived 
any  length  of  time  in  China  will  not  be  surprised. 
The  art  of  squeezing  is  one  practised  by  every  class 
in  this  great  empire,  from  the  royal  household  down 
to  the  beggar  by  the  wayside.  Even  their  headman 
has  to  share  his  gains  with  his  immediate  superiors  if 
he  would  retain  his  office. 


CHAPTER    XXIII 

"  FACE  " 

**  Face  "  is  one  of  the  most  potent,,  and  at  the  same 
time  one  of  the  most  amusing  words  in  the  Chinese 
language.  It  is  not  meant  to  describe  the  countenance 
of  any  one  of  the  four  hundred  millions  that  inhabit 
this  empire.  It  represents  rather  an  idea  that  per- 
meates the  whole  of  society.  It  may  be  said  to  be 
the  one  dramatic  element  that  makes  every  Chinese  a 
play-actor,  and  his  own  life  the  stage  on  which  he  acts 
the  farces  and  comedies  that  are  constantly  being  played 
in  everyday  life.  A  Chinese  is  dominated  by  one 
passion,  viz.,  to  look  well  before  his  fellow-men.  To 
do  this  successfully  is  to  have  *'  face."  To  fail,  or 
to  appear  in  disgrace,  is  to  '*  lose  face."  He  is  well 
aware  of  the  power  of  scenic  effect,  and  so  he  is  always 
arranging  the  play  that  he  may  give  the  onlooker  the 
best  view  of  himself.  The  spectators  look  on  with  faces 
as  unmoved  as  though  they  were  officiating  at  a  funeral, 
though  they  know  that  the  whole  thing  is  a  farce  got 
up  to  produce  a  certain  effect.  To  smile,  or  to  let 
it  appear  that  they  saw  through  the  thing,  would  spoil 
the  effect,  and  cause  the  men  to  **  lose  his  face." 

Roughly  speaking,  this  word  **  face  "  embodies  two 
broad  lines  of  thought,  though  these  by  no  means  ex- 
haust the  many  possibilities  that  lie  lurking  within  it. 
The  first  of  these  is  honour,  or  reputation.  A  man, 
for  example,  has  done  some  public  service  for  which 
he  has  received  high  honours.  His  name  has  been 
printed  in  the  Peking  Gazette ,  which  has  carried  the 
news  of  his  achievements  to  the  utmost  limits  of  the 
empire.  This  man  is  said  to  have  a  large  amount  of 
'*  face,"  sufficient  indeed  to  enable  him  to  stand  the 
gaze   of  the   whole   nation,    as    well   as   to   cause   the 

301 


302    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

members  of  his  clan  in  some  out-of-the-way  village 
in  a  distant  province  to  have  enough  of  the  same  article 
to  last  them  for  several  generations  to  come.  Some 
time  ago,  in  a  certain  city  in  China,  a  mandarin  came 
to  the  close  of  his  term  of  office,  and  was  about  to  leave 
to  take  up  a  position  in  another  province  of  the  empire. 
He  was  a  man  of  marked  ability  and  had  gained  the 
reputation  of  being  a  wise  and  efficient  ruler,  and  less 
disposed  to  squeeze  the  people  than  is  the  habit  witjh! 
most  gentlemen  of  his  class. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  from  this  that  he  was  im- 
maculate as  regards  the  taking  of  bribes.  No  one  ever 
dreamed  that  he  was.  He  had  bought  his  office,  for 
ten  thousand  dollars  and,  of  course,  he  had  to  get 
back  that  amount  again.  No  Chinese  would  think  the 
less  of  him  for  doing  that.  He  had  besides  to  lay 
by  a  comfortable  little  sum  to  transmit  to  the  paternal 
home,  so  that  when  he  retired  from  the  cares  of  high 
office  he  could  do  so  with  the  dignity,  that  the  know- 
ledge of  a  competence  awaiting  him  would  enable  him 
to  sustain.  From  a  Chinese  point  of  view  this  was 
most  reasonable  and  just.  Outside  of  these  honest 
gains,  he  had  never  been  known  to  show  an  exacting 
spirit.  Other  men  who  had  preceded  him  had  been 
distinguished  for  their  rapacity.  Justice  and  mercy 
had  been  ruthlessly  set  aside  in  the  one  passion  for 
enriching  themselves.  This  man  had  shown  that  the 
main  aim'  of  his  life  had  been  the  administering  pf 
justice  and  the  promotion  of  the  welfare  of  his  people. 

It  was,  therefore,  determined  to  give  him  a  parting 
gift  that  would  show  the  high  appreciation  in  which  he 
was  universally  held  and  at  the  same  time  give  him 
such  an  amount  of  *'  face  "  as  would  serve  him  for 
the  rest  of  his  life.  The  present  that  the  people  decided 
to  give  him  was  the  **  umbrella  of  the  myriad  people." 
As  the  title  indicates,  this  was  a  gift  that  lay  within 
the  prerogative  of  the  people  only  to  give.  The 
Emperor  might  bestow  the  most  splendid  honours  upon 
him,  but  he  could  not  give  him  that.  His  superiors 
might  desire  to  show  their  appreciation  of  his  integrity 
as  a  mandarin,  but  they  could  never  present  him  with 
a  gift  that  every  official  longs  to  have  given  him.  As 
it  represented  the  affection  and  loyalty  of  thousands 


"FACE"  303 

who  had  been  benefited  by  his  rule,  of  course,  it  could 
come  from  no  other  source  than  from  them.  This 
umbrella  is  made  of  crimson  silk.  It  is  of  huge  pro- 
portions, and  when  it  is  opened  a  curtain  of  about 
two  feet  in  width  falls  gracefully  all  round  it,  on  which, 
are  inscribed  in  black  velvet  letters  the  names  of  the 
leading  men  who  have  been  active  in  getting  up  the 
presentation.  The  one  presented  on  this  occasion,  in 
addition  to  such  names,  contained  but  a  single  sentence, 
brief  but  pathetic,  **  He  protected  us  because  he  loved 
us." 

And  now  the  hour  of  the  mandarin's  departure 
arrives.  The  whole  yam^n  was  in  one  delightful  state 
of  excitement.  The  secretaries  and  runners,  and  the 
numerous  followers  that  gather  round  the  courts  of 
the  mandarins,  seemed  unable  to  control  themselves. 
The  myriad  people  had  flocked  in  crowds  to  see  the 
last  of  their  beloved  ruler,  and  the  narrow  streets  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  yam^n  were  densely  packed  with  a  living 
mass  that  made  them  impassable  to  the  public.  The 
one  conspicuous  thing,  however,  that  stood  out  promi- 
nent above  everything  else  in  that  living  scene,  was 
the  crimson  umbrella  flashing  in  the  sun  and  held  high 
by  the  sturdy  arms  of  some  of  the  myriad  people.  A 
special  band  stood  by  to  escort  it  to  the  river,  where 
the  mandarin's  boat  was  waiting  to  receive  him.  No 
sooner  had  he  got  into  his  sedan-chair  and  it  was 
lifted  on  to  the  shoulders  of  the  bearers  than  the  band, 
as  if  conscious  how  much  depended  on  them,  broke 
into  wild  strains  that  filled  the  air  of  the  immense 
courtyard,  and  travelled  over  the  heads  of  the  crowds 
outside,  till  they  were  lost  in  the  city  beyond. 

The  scene  was  one  in  which  the  Chinese  are  seen  at 
their  best.  The  mandarin's  face,  usually  stern  and  im- 
penetrable, glowed  with  a  tender  and  benevolent  ex- 
pression. Countless  faces  beamed  with  smiles,  black 
eyes  sparkled  with  excitement,  and  pent-up  feelings 
were  expressed  in  orientally  poetic  language  at  the 
loss  of  so  virtuous  a  ruler.  As  the  procession  wound 
its  way  through  the  city  fresh  crowds  constantly 
gathered  from  alleyways  and  side  streets.  The  band, 
as  if  reflecting  the  glory  of  the  mandarin  and  the 
crimson  umbrella,  seemed  to  think  that  the  success  of 


304    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

the  day  depended  upon  them.  The  men's  cheeks  were 
distended  like  miniature  balloons  as  they  blew  into 
their  instruments  and  sent  out  wild  and  weird  notes 
that  filled  the  air,  now  with  shrieks  of  despair  an,d 
ajion  with  bold  and  martial  strains.  It  was  indeed  a 
joyous  day,  and  men  whispered  to  each  other  as  they 
watched  the  procession  and  saw  the  gleam  of  the  rich- 
coloured  umbrella,  '*  What  face  he  has  got  to-day  ! 
He  must  be  a  happy  man  indeed  and  proud  will  his 
friends  be  when  he  tells  them  the  story  of  to-day." 

And  happy  indeed  was  this  solitary  figure,  that 
etiquette  compelled  to  sit  alone,  without  daring  to  share 
his  thoughts  with  any  one.  It  was  a  red-letter  day  in 
his  history.  The  crimson  umbrella  that  cast  its  shadow 
over  his  chair  danced  before  his  vision  as  the  emblem 
of  all  that  was  beautiful.  It  was  the  one  thing  that 
would  be  for  ever  permanent  in  his  life.  The  crowds 
that  gazed  upon  him  would  vanish,  the  music  die  away, 
and  his  memories  of  the  city  where  he  had  been  so 
highly  honoured  would  fade,  but  the  umbrella  would 
always  remain  with  him.  He  would  take  it  home  with 
him  and  put  it  in  the  ancestral  hall  of  the  clan,  and 
there,  amidst  the  spirits  of  his  forefathers,  it  would 
perpetuate  his  memory  after  he  was  gone. 

Another  idea  contained  in  the  word  "  face  "  is  self- 
respect,  or  dignity,  a  thing  that  a  Chinese  must  main- 
tain at  all  costs  and  in  all  circumstances.  Whether  he 
is  right  or  wrong  he  must  never  be  placed  in  a  position 
where  he  would  have  to  blush  for  himself.  His  "  face  " 
must  be  maintained  at  all  costs. 

A  coolie,  for  example,  hears  that  his  foreign  employer 
is  dissatisfied  with  him  and  is  on  the  point  of  dis- 
missing him.  He  at  once  concocts  some  plausible  story 
that  completely  mystifies  his  master  and  hands  in  his 
resignation.  The  latter,  who  is  only  a  barbarian,  does 
not  see  the  point,  and  as  he  never  dreams  that  he  has 
any  **  face  "  to  save  in  the  matter,  he  is  only  too  glad 
of  the  chance  that  rids  him  of  an  utterly  untrustworthy 
servant.  The  man  goes  out  with  his  countenance 
covered  with  smiles,  for  though  he  has  lost  his  situation, 
he  has  saved  his  "  face."  For  the  next  two  or  three 
days  he  makes  a  kind  of  triumphal  march  amongst 
his  friends.     One  of  these  meets  him  and  says,  **  Oh  I 


"FACE''  305 

by  the  way,  I  hear  you  are  not  living  with  So-and-so 
now."  **  No,"  replies  the  man,  with  a  countenance 
like  that  of  a  judge,  *'  I  could  not  stand  him  any  longer. 
He  has  no  manners,  and  no  refinement,  and  I  felt  I 
was  hurting  my  own  character  by  remaining  with  him, 
so  I  resigned.  He  begged  and  entreated  me  to  stay, 
and  he  even  offered  to  increase  my  wages  ;  but  money, 
you  know,  is  not  everything,  and  so  I  left  him."  **  Of 
course  you  could  not  do  anything  else,"  the  friend  says, 
and  they  look  at  each  other  with  solemn  faces  as 
though  they  were  both  in  earnest,  which  they  are  not. 
The  friend  is  not  deceived.  He  knows  that  the  other 
is  acting  a  little  comedy  to  save  his  **  face,"  and  with 
the  instinct  of  a  Chinese  he  enters  into  the  spirit  of 
it,  and  acts  as  though  he  were  being  completely 
deceived. 

In  order  to  **  save  one's  face,"  the  oddest  and  most 
laughable  devices  are  often  resorted  to  when  without 
them  the  **  face  "  would  inevitably  be  lost.  One  of 
these  is  ludicrous  in  the  extreme,  and  could  have  been 
invented  only  in  China.  A  rich  man,  for  example,  has 
committed  some  offence  against  the  law.  The  mandarin 
has  issued  his  warrant  and  commanded  him  to  appear 
in  his  court  on  a  certain  day  to  be  tried.  He  is  so 
conscious  of  his  wrong  that  he  is  perfectly  certain 
that  before  the  case  has  proceeded  far  he  will  be 
thrown  on  his  face  and  slippered  by  one  of  the  court 
runners.  This,  of  course,  would  be  an  immense  indig- 
nity and  he  would  lose  his  "  face  "  for  ever  amongst 
his  friends.  But  money  is  all-powerful  in  China,  and 
society  has  devised  ingenious  methods  by  which  the  man 
who  possesses  it  may  go  through  life  with  an  untar- 
nished face.  iWhen  he  reaches  the  door  of  the  yamen, 
on  the  day  of  the  trial,  a  number  of  men  who  are 
lounging  about  gather  round  him,  and  offer  him  their 
services.  These  are  persons  who  get  their  living  by 
receiving  the  lashes  that  ought  to  be  inflicted  on  others. 
For  them  to  be  beaten  will  bring  no  loss  of  **  face." 
They  have  committed  no  crime  ;  they  are  simply  earn- 
ing an  honest  livelihood,  and  after  the  process  is 
over  they  leave  the  court  without  a  stain  upon 
their  character.  The  rich  man  bargains  with  one 
of    these.      For   so    many    stripes    he    will    give    him 

20 


306    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

so  many  thousand  cash.  He  then  enters  the  yam^n 
with  the  calmness  of  a  man  who  is  conscious  of  his 
innocence.  The  one  who  is  really  to  suffer  is  the 
man  with  the  hang-dog  expression  who  sneaks  behind 
him,  keeping  slightly  in  the  background,  as  his  em- 
ployer speaks  a  few  hurried  words  to  the  policeman 
who  is  on  duty,  and  who  has  also  to  be  bribed  to 
allow  the  use  of  a  substitute. 

Now  the  real  farce  begins.  The  rich  man  kneels 
before  the  mandarin,  who  in  a  stern  and  serious  voice 
expatiates  upon  the  heinous  nature  of  the  offence  he 
has  committed.  Finally,  he  orders  the  runners  to 
bastinado  the  man  with  their  bamboo  rods.  No  sooner 
has  this  command  been  given  than  the  rich  man,  rising 
quickly  from  his  knees,  deftly  stands  aside  whilst  the 
man  he  has  engaged  is  thrown  violently  on  his  face 
and  the  swish  of  the  bamboos  as  they  play  their  part 
and  the  loud  cries  of  the  sufferer  are  the  only  sounds 
to  be  heard  in  the  court. 

There  is  no  attempt  in  all  this  at  concealment.  Both 
the  runners  and  the  mandarin  know  that  the  man  that 
is  writhing  on  the  ground  is  not  the  culprit.  ;W!hat 
does  it  matter?  Justice  is  being  done  by  proxy  aX 
least.  The  rich  man  will  suffer  through  his  pocket. 
A  good  many  of  his  surplus  dollars  will  eventually 
find  their  way,  by  a  circuitous  route,  into  the  pockets 
of  his  Excellency  himself,  and  in  the  end  he  will  find 
that  the  **  saving  of  his  face  "  has  been  a  very  expen- 
sive affair  for  him. 

'*  Face  "  is  such  a  universally  diffused  idea  in  China, 
that  men  frequently  associate  it  with  many  things  out- 
side of  human  life,  and  they  are  careful  that  no  indignity 
shall  be  done  to  them,  so  as  to  cause  them  to  "  lose 
face  "  with  the  general  public.  The  yamen  is  one 
of  these  things.  It  is  the  residence  of  the  mandarins, 
who  are  the  embodiment  of  the  power  and  the  authority 
of  the  Emperor.  It  is  the  fountain  of  appeal  in  cases 
of  oppression  or  wrong,  and  it  is  the  emblem  of  law 
that  protects  society.  It  is,  therefore,  important  that 
its  dignity  shall  be  severely  maintained  and  its  prestige 
be  kept  up  in  the  eyes  of  the  people. 

In  order  to  understand  what  is  meant,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  explain  that  just  inside  of  the  gates  of 


"  FACE  "  307 

the  yamen  a  large  drum'  is  suspended  in  the  air.  In 
ancient  times  a  wise  Emperor,  who  knew  the  character 
of  the  mandarins  and  the  difficulty  of  getting  quick 
justice,  commanded  that  every  yamen  in  the  empire 
should  have  one  of  these.  In  cases  of  emergency  or 
grea,t  peril,  where  the  slow  processes  of  law  would 
not  avail,  a  man  was  permitted  to  come  and  strike  this 
drum.  The  mandarin  was  then  bound,  at  any  hour 
of  the  day  or  night,  to  come  out  and  listen  to  the 
complaint.  This,  of  course,  is  contrary  to  the  usual 
dignified  course  of  things,  and  so  far  the  yamen  may 
be  said  to  '*  lose  its  face  *'  by  being  divested  for  the 
time  being  of  the  awe  and  terror  with  which  the 
popular  mind  has  invested  it.  In  order,  therefore,  to 
restore  its  damaged  prestige,  it  is  the  custom  for  the 
mandarin,  before  he  listens  to  the  story  of  the  man 
who  has  taken  liberties  with  his  court,  to  have  him 
gently  slippered.  This  levels  up  things,  and  restores 
any  "  face  "  that  may  have  been  lost. 

The  **  face  "  of  to-day  is  of  no  mere  modern  origin. 
It  existed  in  the  earliest  days  of  Chinese  history.  It 
is  related  that  a  king  in  the  famous  Chow  Dynasty 
discovered  that  his  prime  minister  was  in  the  habit 
of  receiving  presents  of  silk,  as  bribes.  He  did  not 
wish  to  punish  him,  for  his  services  were  needful  for 
him,  and  yet  he  wished  to  cure  him  of  his  fault,  but  in 
such  a  way  that  he  might  "  save  his  face,"  and  so 
be  able  to  retain  him  in  his  service.  He  thought  of 
a  plan  that  succeeded  admirably.  One  day  he  sent 
him  a  large  number  of  pieces  of  silk  as  a  presents 
When  the  minister  came  to  thank  him  for  them,  he 
expressed  his  surprise  that  he  had  given  him  such  a 
magnificent  gift.  *' I  heard,"  replied  the  prince,  "that 
you  were  fond  of  receiving  such  presents,  and  so  I 
thought  I  would  gratify  you  by  begging  you  to  accept 
one  from  me."  The  minister  felt  at  once  that  he  had 
been  found  out,  but  the  rebuke  had  been  administered 
in  so  kindly  a  way  that  he  knew  he  was  forgiven. 
His  **  face,"  too,  had  been  saved,  so  that  he  could 
still  remain  in  the  service  of  the  king. 

It  w^ould  have  been  well  for  our  diplomatists  if  they 
had  appreciated  what  a  tremendous  factor  this  **  face  " 
is  in  the  national  life.     It  might  have  prevented  the 


308    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

decay  of  English  prestige  in  this  country,  and  the 
terrible  outbreak  of  war  with  Japan,  that  has  so 
humiliated  this  empire,  and  destroyed  its  *'  face  '*  for 
many  generations  to  come.  The  great  statesmen  of 
China  were  filled  with  resentment  because,  when  the 
Japanese  threatened  to  march  on  Peking  during  the 
late  war,  England  did  not  interfere  and  save  the  "  face  " 
of  the  nation.  Li  Hung-chang  became  one  of  the 
most  violent  opponents  of  England  because,  in  China's 
extremity,  she  did  not  step  in  and  intervene  between 
her  and  her  successful  enemy,  but  left  it  to  Germany, 
France,  and  Russia  to  carry  out  a  duty  that  China 
looked  to  Great  Britain  to  perform. 

There  is  one  redeeming  feature  about  this  passion  for 
saving  one's  *'  face  "  that  lifts  it  up  from  the  common 
selfish  level  that  we  are  apt  to  attribute  to  it.  In  a 
larger  outlook  at  it  we  find  that  it  is  not  an  entirely 
personal  thing  that  is  always  exercised  to  preserve 
one's  own  dignity  or  act  to  save  oneself  from  appear- 
ing in  a  false  or  invidious  position.  This  national  trait 
has  had  the  effect  of  cultivating  a  delicate  and  refining 
influence  in  the  feelings  of  the  people  for  each  other. 
iWhilst  men  are  sensitive  about  anything  that  would 
cast  the  slightest  shadow  upon  their  own  face  they 
seem  to  be  keenly  alive  to  the  importance  of  saving 
their  neighbour's  also  from  any  shame  that  might  cover' 
it  with  shame  and  confusion.  A  case  in  point  will 
illustrate  what  I  mean. 

In  one  of  the  country  churches  under  my  charge,  the 
preacher  or  evangelist  in  charge  had  become  thoroughly 
unpopular.  He  was  a  miserable  speaker,  without  the 
slightest  atom  of  poetry  or  imagination  about  him,  and 
his  sermons  were  a  dull  level  of  the  most  common- 
place and  iminteresting  character.  Socially,  too,  he  was 
a  complete  failure.  He  did  not  know  how  to  talk.  He 
could  not  tell  a  story  or  show  in  his  conversation  that 
his  heart  was  touched  to  any  human  sympathy  of  any 
kind  whatsoever.  He  was  as  dull  a  man  as  any  one 
could  conceive  of.  He  finally  became  so  unpopular 
that  his  congregation  determined  to  get  rid  of  him. 
But  how  to  do  this  was  a  question  that  was  not  so 
easily  answered.  A  notice  to  quit  was  not  to  be  thought 
of,  for  that  would  make  him  **  lose  face."     To  stop 


"FACE"  309 

the  supplies  was  also  an  expedient  that  would  haVe 
the  same  effect,  and  therefore  was  dismissed  as  being 
inapplicable.  Many  plans  were  suggested,  but  as  each 
of  them,  if  carried  out,  might  endanger  his  *'  face  "  they, 
were  all  successively  rejected,  and  the  leading  men 
appealed  to  me  to  take  the  matter  in  hand  and  devise 
some  scheme  to  relieve  the  church  of  a  man  who  was 
thoroughly  out  of  touch  with  them.  This  was  anything 
but  easy  for  me,  for  I  could  not  take  any  a:ction  that 
would  *'  deprive  him  of  his  face,**  and  thus  fill  the  man 
with  confusion  or  render  it  difficult  for  him  to  get 
another  charge. 

After  arranging  with  another  church  to  haVe  him  as 
their  preacher,  I  finally  got  him  to  resign,  and  I  then 
took  an  early  opportunity  of  publicly  informing  his 
people  that  their  preacher,  for  reasons  that  need  not  be 
discussed,  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he  must 
relinquish  his  charge  over  them,  and  that,  therefore, 
they  must  look  out  for  some  one  else  to  be  their 
teacher  and  instructor.  To  watch  the  countenances  of 
the  people  when  this  decision  was  announced  was  as 
good  as  a  play.  They  seemed  perfectly  stunned,  and 
amazement  sent  its  varying  emotions  flashing  across 
their  features.  By  and  by  protests  were  made  and 
entreaties  put  forth  that  the  preacher  should  withdraw 
his  resignation.  If  I  had  not  been  behind  the  scenes 
and  had  not  known  the  exact  feeling  of  the  church 
I  should  have  been  deceived  and  should  have  joined 
with  them  in  persuading  him  to  listen  to  the  urgent 
solicitations  of  his  people,  but  I  did  not  ;  on  the  other 
hand,  I  announced  that  the  resignation  was  a  final  one 
and  could  not  on  any  account  be  reconsidered.  After 
a  time  the  voices  of  entreaty  died  down,  and  it  was 
finally  accepted  as  a  settled  thing  that  the  position  of 
preacher   in   that   church   was   vacant. 

Now,  these  people  could  not  be  entirely  convicted  of 
hypocrisy.  The  little  by-play  that  day  had  as  its 
motive  the  very  beautiful  one  of  striving  to  save  the 
feelings  of  a  man  whose  ministrations  had  become 
utterly  distasteful  to  them.  They  might  have  brutally 
handed  over  to  him  the  balance  of  his  salary  and  told 
him  that  his  services  were  no  longer  required.  That 
would  have  been  to  crush  him  and  to  have  given  him 


310    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

a  reputation  in  the  churches  that  would  have  covered 
him  for  years,  perhaps,  with  shame.  They  wanted  to 
preserve  the  man's  own  self-respect  and  so  they  took 
this  oblique  way  of  carrying  out  their  purpose. 

But  the  story  did  not  end  with  that  day's  performance. 
About  a  week  after,  the  servant  came  into  my  study  and 
told  me  that  the  leading  men  and  the  preacher  of  this 
very  church  wished  to  see  me.  I  naturally  wondered 
what  such  a  visit  meant.  After  they  wete  seated  and 
we  had  passed  the  compliments  of  the  day  with  each 
other,  I  politely  asked  them  what  was  the  particular 
business  they  wished  to  discuss  with  me.  One  of  the 
most  influential  amongst  them  began  by  telling  me 
that  they  had  been  very  uneasy  in  their  minds  about 
the  loss  of  their  preacher.  The  whole  church,  indeed, 
had  been  in  a  most  perplexed  and  unhappy  condition 
ever  since  he  had  resigned  and  they  had  come  specially 
to  consult  with  me  to  see  whether  I  could  not  persuade 
him  to  reconsider  his  decision  and  listen  to  their  earnest 
request  to  remain  with  them  as  their  pastor. 

One  by  one  the  others  followed  in  the  same  strain 
and  employed  the  strongest  arguments  possible  to  get 
me  to  use  my  influence  with  the  man  to  cause  him  to 
withdraw  his  resignation.  I  was  perplexed  and  did  not 
know  what  to  do.  These  very  same  men  had  only 
very  recently  used  all  their  powers  of  persuasion  to 
induce  me  to  find  some  way  iDy  which  the  man  could 
be  got  rid  of.  I  had  done  so  and  now  here  they  were, 
with  the  man  whom  they  really  detested  in  their  midst, 
eloquently  going  over  the  reasons  why  he  should  be 
retained  in  his  old  position.  Fortunately  for  them,  I 
absolutely  refused  to  listen  to  their  arguments,  and  the 
preacher  seconded  me  by  declaring  that  he  had  made 
up  his  mind  to  accept  another  invitation  which  he  had 
received  from  another  church  to  become  their  minister. 
After  a  few  words  on  other  subjects,  he  got  up  and 
left  as  he  had  an  appointment  to  keep.  As  the  door 
closed  upon  him  I  turned  to  the  others  and  I  said  very 
sternly  :  **  iWill  you  please  tell  me  what  you  mean  by 
your  strange  conduct?  You  were  determined  in  the  first 
instance  to  get  rid  of  your  preacher,  and  in  sympathy 
with  you  I  arranged  a  very  unpleasant  piece  of  business 
so  satisfactorily  that  everybody's  '  face  '  was  saved^,  and 


"FACE"  311 

now  you  are  here  begging  and  entreating  for  the  reten- 
tion of  the  very  man  that  you  could  not  tolerate.  What 
is  the  meaning  of  this   farce?  " 

The  men  up  to  this  point  had  kept  their  faces  as 
solemn  as  judges.  There  had  not  been  a  quiver  of  the 
eyelids  or  a  passing  flash  across  their  features  to 
indicate  that  a  huge  comedy  was  being  enacted.  One 
of  the  most  solemn-looking  of  the  men  before  me,  with 
a  twinkle  in  his  eye  and  a  smile  that  seemed  to  come 
from  some  great  depth  within  the  recesses  of  his  heart, 
looked  up  at  me  and  said  :  *'  It  is  quite  true  that  we 
wished  to  get  rid  of  the  man,  and  he  himself  was 
perfectly  aware  of  that.  It  would  not  do,  however, 
to  let  the  world  assume  that  this  was  the  case.  To  have 
done  that  would  have  caused  him  to  lose  his  face  so 
seriously  that  he  would  not  have  recovered  it  for  many 
a  long  year  to  come.  Now  he  leaves  us  with  a  large 
accession  of  face  and  the  story  will  be  repeated 
in  the  church  to  which  he  is  going,  and  the  man  will 
be  able  to  hold  up  his  head  in  a  manner  that  he  has 
never  been  able  to  do  before."  As  he  slowly  uttered 
these  words,  the  smile  became  deeper  and  deeper  till 
it  spread  all  over  his  face  and  his  eyes  twinkled  with 
an  irrepressible  sense  of  humour.  The  countenances 
of  the  others,  too,  showed  how  tickled  they  were  at 
the  comedy  they  had  been  playing.  They  were  suffused 
with  broad  grins  that  travelled  over  their  ample  faces 
and  over  their  foreheads  till  they  vanished^  down  their 
queues.  Their  amusement  was  so  contagious  that  I 
found  myself  joining  in  the  hearty  laughter  that  filled 
the  room  with  its  echoes. 

The  Chinese  is  a  man  with  an  inexhaustible  fund  of 
humour.  Without  that  he  would  not  have  been  able  to 
have  borne  the  toil,  the  hunger,  the  sorrows,  and  the 
thousand  sources  of  trouble  that,  without  one  little  ray 
of  light  flashed  down  upon  him  from  heaven,  he  has 
had  to  endure.  It  has  been  like  the  brook  tumbling 
down  the  mountain-side  and  singing  its  song  amidst  the 
hills,  or  like  the  rainbow  that,  amid  gathering  clouds 
that  are  darkening  the  very  heavens,  illumines  the  gloom 
with  its  beauty  and  makes  one  forget  that  the  world 
at  its  worst  can  never  lose  its  brightness. 

Now  amidst  all  the  endless  possibilities  for  exhibiting 


S12    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

this  beautiful  and  God-given  sense,  there  is  nothing  that 
gives  such  boundless  opportunities  as  this  most  interest- 
ing and  universal  custom.  The  oddities  of  the  Chinese 
mind  and  their  keen  appreciation  of  the  whimsical  in 
the  human  mind  find  a  vent  in  it  such  as  nothing  else 
could  supply.  It  is  a  pleasing  thought  that  in  their 
effort  to  carry  out  an  idea  that  is  a  purely  selfish  one 
originally,  the  Chinese  have  been  led  during  the  course 
of  ages  to  widen  its  scope  and  to  include  the  **  face  " 
of  others  as  well  as  that  of  their  own. 


CHAPTER    XXIV 
PEEPS    INTO    CHINESE    LIFE 

Brother  John  is  one  of  the  unsolved  problems  of  the 
East.  A  Chinese  puzzle  is  popularly  supposed  to  be 
the  most  intricate  and  perplexing  of  its  kind.  It  has 
a  delightful  air  of  mystery  about  it.  It  is  involved. 
Subtle  points  of  difficulty  lie  hidden  in  unexpected 
places.  Angles  and  corners  exist  that  will  not  fit  any- 
where, and  yet  without  these  the  puzzle  would  be  in- 
complete. This  complicated  bit  of  workmanship,  and 
its  cunning  and  apparently  impossible  combinations 
reveal  the  nature  of  the  mind  that  designed  it. 

Brother  John  is  a  conundrum  that  no  one  has  ever 
yet  been  able  to  solve.  Foreigners  of  all  nationalities 
who  have  come  to  live  in  China  leave  the  country  with 
the  vague  feeling  that  the  native  is  a  quantity  impos- 
sible to  analyse.  It  is  a:  fact  that  a  foreigner  may 
spend  his  days  among  this  people,  enter  into  their 
social  life,  speak  their  language  almost  as  well  as  them- 
selves, and  yet  at  the  end  of  forty  years  will  honestly 
declare  that  there  are  a  great  many  things  about  them 
that  he  does  not  pretend  to  understand.  It  will  be 
obvious  from  this  that  the  Chinese  is  no  shallow  or 
superficial  character.  It  is  the  very  complexity  of  his 
make-up  that  renders  him  such  a  mystery.  The 
elements  that  are  found  in  him  and  the  oblique  methods 
by  which  the  yellow  brain  works  are  the  things  that 
puzzle  the  Occidental  who  has  been  accustomed  to  the 
more  direct  methods  of  the  men  of  the  West. 

At  first  sight  the  Chinese  is  very  unattractive.  His 
skin  is  of  yellow  hue  and  his  voice  is  harsh  and 
unmusical.  Judged  by  a  Western  standard,  there  is  not 
a  feature  in  his  face  that  could  ever  by  the  widest 
charity  be  called  beautiful.     His  cheekbones  stand  out 

313 


314    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

staring  and  protuberant.  His  nose  is  as  flat  as  though 
his  far-off  progenitor  had  had  it  bruised  in  some 
pugilistic  encounter,  and  had  transmitted  it  maimed 
and  battered  to  his  posterity.  His  lips  are  thick  and 
his  mouth  wide  and  open,  a  veritable  sepulchre  for  the 
huge  mouthfuls  of  rice  that  he  daily  shovels  into  it 
with  his  chopsticks.  His  eyes,  too,  which  are  always 
black,  are  narrow  and  almond-shaped,  and  the  eyeballs, 
instead  of  being  large  and  full -orbed,  dance  and  twinkle 
inside  the  narrow  slits,  as  though  they  were  playing 
hide-and-seek  with  the  world.  In  addition  to  all  this 
there  is  often  a  dull  and  soulless  look  about  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  that  gives  one  the  impression  of  an 
utter  lack  of  fancy  or  imagination.  In  spite  of  all 
these  disadvantages,  there  is  a  nameless  something  about 
the  Chinese  that  makes  the  Englishman  like  him  better 
than  any  of  the  other  peoples  of  the  Orient. 

One  of  the  principal  reasons  for  this,  no  doubt,  is 
his  keen  sense  of  humour.  This  is  not  of  the  dry,  musty 
kind  that  lies  so  deeply  ingrained  that  it  requires  a 
surgical  operation  to  extract  it.  It  pervades  the  man, 
and  is  of  that  broad  and  jolly  kind  that  is  close  to  the 
surface  and  bubbles  over  at  the  least  provocation.  Any- 
thing ludicrous  or  grotesque  makes  him  break  out  into 
laughter,  or  causes  smiles,  like  sunshine  on  a  rugged 
hillside,  to  light  up  his  features.  A  funny  story  or 
a  humorous  remark  transforms  the  solid,  sphinx-like 
face,  so  that  you  feel  drawn  to  the  man  who  a  moment 
before  seemed  separated  from  you  "by  an  impassable 
gulf. 

No  Chinese,  no  matter  what  mood  he  miay  be  in,  can 
ever  withstand  the  power  of  a  joke.  It  seems  to  be  a 
solvent  that  disperses  the  ugliest  of  tempers.  I  have 
seen  a  man  surly  and  ill-disposed  turned  into  a  friend 
by  some  witty  remark.  I  have  also  known  of  a  crowd 
that  was  decidedly  hostile  and  prepared  for  some  ugly 
horseplay  completely  captured  by  some  humorous 
expression  that  sent  smiles  flashing  across  their  rugged 
features,  and  converted  them  into  the  friends  of  the 
man  who  a  few  minutes  before  they  were  ready  to 
stone.  I       ! 

In  any  estimate  th^t  we  may  make  of  the  Chinese 
we  must  never  forget  that  his  mind  runs  in  grooves  that 


PEEPS  INTO  CHINESE  LIFE  315 

are  essentially  different  from  those  of  the  Anglo-Saxon. 
The  latter  prefers  to  go  directly  to  the  heart  of  any 
subject  with  which  he  is  dealing.  When  he  makes  a 
statement,  we  at  once  accept  it  as  the  thing  he  wishes 
us  to  believe.  The  Chinese  mind  is  the  very  reverse  of 
this.  It  abhors  the  idea  of  directness,  and  prefers  to 
tell  its  story  in  a  roundabout  way. 

The  foreigner  does  not  require  to  be  many  years  in 
China  before  he  discovers  that  it  is  impossible  to  be 
sure  of  what  a  Chinese  means  by  what  he  says.  You 
listen  to  him  with  great  attention.  His  face  is  as 
calm  and  as  guileless  as  that  of  an  infant  and  the  words 
glide  from  his  lips  in  an  easy  and  natural  way  ;  and 
yet  experience  teaches  you  that  the  thing  he  is  saying 
and  the  thing  he  means  have  only  a  very  remote  con- 
nection with  each  other. 

It  is  this  habit  that  renders  it  extremely  difficult  to 
get  a  Chinese  to  give  you  a  direct  answer  to  any  ques- 
tion that  you  may  put  to  him.  You  have  asked  a  mason 
to  give  you  an  estimate  for  some  work  that  you  wished 
him  to  do  for  you.  You  have  allowed  him  a  week  to 
work  out  the  details.  At  the  time  appointed  he  appears 
with  all  the  items  marked  out  on  a  sheet  of  paper,  and 
in  true  Anglo-Saxon  style  you  say,  '*  Well,  how  much 
can  you  do  the  work  for?  "  He  looks  aghast  at  you. 
This  kind  of  question  and  answer  is  opposed  to  the 
very  genius  of  the  nation  and  must  be  sternly  met.  He 
ignores  the  question  so  brutally  put  to  him,  and  he 
goes  on  to  say  that  the  job  you  have  asked  him  to  do 
is  a  very  difficult  one  because  of  the  many  intricate 
details  connected  with  it.  You  get  impatient,  and  you 
say,  *'  I  don't  want  to  hear  any  of  your  details.  I 
simply  want  to  know  how  much  you  are  going  to 
charge."  He  goes  on  unmoved  and  proceeds  to  tick 
off  on  his  fingers  the  various  kinds  of  materials  that  will 
be  required.  You  become  indignant  and  insist  upon  his 
telling  you  at  once  and  without  any  delay  what  he 
intends  to  charge.  He  is  still  as  unmoved  as  though 
he  were  the  Great  Wall  of  China  against  which  you 
had  been  knocking  your  head.  You  find  it  useless  to 
contend  against  a  force  that  does  not  seem  to  recognise 
any  will  but  his  own.  You  simply  collapse  and  listen 
in  a  kind  of  exasperated  way  till  he  has  gone  through 


316    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

all  the  explanation  th^t  he  deems  necessary,  and  finally 
he  blurts  out  the  sum  you  wish  to  know. 

A  Chinese  never  seems  to  understand  that  language 
is  intended  to  express  thought  in  as  direct  a  way  as 
possible.  It  is  more  often  than  not  simply  used  as  a 
vehicle  to  suggest  ideas  that  remain  in  the  background 
and  have  to  be  learned  by  inference.  A  man,  for 
example,  will  come  to  you  with  the  face  of  a  saint,  and 
he  will  give  you  nine  good  reasons  for  a  certain  course 
of  action  he  has  taken.  You  find  by  and  by  that  not  one 
of  them  is  true,  and  that  the  real  one  that  would  have 
explained  the  whole  matter  was  kept  back.  You  ask 
him  why  he  did  this,  and  with  a  face  that  really  beams 
with  candour  he  will  give  you  nine  more  why  he  did 
not,  not  one  of  which,  however,  will  be  any  more  reliable 
than  those  he  previously  gave  you. 

The  Chinese,  in  one  respect  at  lelast,  are  a  very 
exasperating  people,  because  of  the  dogged  and  deter- 
mined manner  in  which  they  insist  upon  having  their 
own  way.  You  wish  something  done  and  you  present 
your  plans  and  you  show  how  you  wish  them  carried  out. 
The  listener  objects  and  suggests  modifications.  You 
are  firm  and  declare  that  you  want  none  of  his  advice. 
He  appears  to  come  round  to  your  view.  His  face 
assumes  a  childlike,  satisfied  expression  and  he  says  that 
really  after  all  your  plans  are  the  best.  When  the 
work  is  finished  you  find  to  your  dismay  that  he  has 
carried  out,  not  your  ideas  but  his  own.  You  aslc 
him  why  he  has  dared  to  do  this.  "  Oh!  "  he  says 
simply,  **  I  thought  that  my  way  was  the  best." 

A  lady  calls  in  a  tailor  to  make  a  dress.  She  gives 
him  precise  instructions  as  to  pattern,  trimming,  &c., 
and  he  departs  with  a  yellow  smile  lighting  up  the 
hills  and  caverns  of  his  childlike  face.  He  perfectly 
understands  what  she  wants,  he  says,  and  with  a 
business-like  air  he  gathers  up  the  materials  and 
vanishes,  saying,  **  I  come  day  after  to-morrow  morn- 
ing." A  few  days  after  he  appears  again  with  the  dress 
finished.  The  same  jaundiced  smile  that  he  had  when 
he  last  left  flickers  over  his  face,  and  he  hastens  to 
open  up  the  parcel  and  display  the  glories  of  silk  and 
lace  that  have  been  combined  by  his  deft  and  cunning 
hand  into  an  enchanting  dress.     No  sooner  is  it  spread 


PEEPS  INTO  CHINESE  LIFE  317 

out  than  a  shadow  passes  over  the  lady's  face,  **  Why, 
tailor,"  she  exclaims,  **  you  have  changed  the  pattern. 
What  is  the  meaning  of  this?  "  "  Oh!  "  exclaims  the 
Celestial  in  pidgin  English,  *'  I  makee  changee  more 
better.  I  number  one  piecee  good  tailor  ;  my  too 
muchee  savey  (know),  you  no  savey,  dress  more  pletty, 
can  do  so  fashion."  The  supreme  cheek  of  this  tailor 
in  setting  up  his  opinion  as  superior  to  the  lady's  is 
but  in  keeping  with  the  general  attitude  of  his  country- 
men throughout  the  empire. 

Now  all  this,  whilst  very  annoying  at  the  time,  never 
causes  one  to  indulge  in  vindictive  feelings.  Even  when 
9,  Chinese  is  most  exasperating,  the  humorous  element  is 
so  powerful  that  more  often  than  not  the  indignant 
feelings  find  relief  in  a  fit  of  laughter.  The  cool  way 
in  which  he  will  romance  and  build  up  a  story  in  which 
there  is  not  a  single  atom  of  truth  excites  one's  sense 
of  the  ridiculous  to  such  an  extent  that  it  is  impossible 
to  sustain  one's  anger.  The  feeling  of  a  man  mentioned 
in  Smith's  *'  Chinese  Characteristics,"  who  was  in  a 
chronic  state  of  indecision  whether  he  should  murder 
one  of  his  mulish  servants  or  raise  his  wages,  well 
expresses  the  varying  emotions  that  the  foreigner  has 
in  dealing  with  that  strange  but  unique  character  the 
Chinese. 

There  is  one  feature  in  the  Chinese  that  is  most 
distressing,  and  that  is  his  untruthfulness.  From  our 
point  of  view  he  seems  to  possess  no  sense  of  truth. 
If  you  think  you  will  shame  him  by  telling  him  that 
he  is  lying  you  will  receive  a  decided  shock.  He 
will  simply  smile,  assume  a  benevolent  air,  and  assure 
you  that  he  never  told  a  lie  in  his  life.  A  very  common 
expression  and  one  in  constant  use  is,  *'  There  is  not  a 
shadow  "  (meaning  of  truth)  *'  in  what  you  say."  Two 
men  are  in  conversation  and  you  are  startled  at  the 
blunt,  brutal  way  in  which  this  statement  is  used,  and 
you  expect  to  see  the  man  who  has  uttered  it  felled  to 
the  ground,  but  nothing  of  the  kind  happens.  The 
word  seems  to  convey  no  more  offensive  meaning  than 
our  own  phrase,  *'  Oh  !    you  are  surely  joking." 

A  rough,  coarse  coolie  once,  in  answer  to  some  state- 
ment that  I  had  made,  replied  to  me  in  the  common 
phrase  above  referred  to.     I  said  to  him:    "You  will 


318    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

have  to  be  careful  how  you  talk  that  way  to  Englishmen. 
Some  of  these  days  you  will  get  your  face  damaged 
so  that  your  own  mother  will  not  recognise  you."  He 
looked  at  me  in  astonishment.  He  could  not  grasp  my 
meaning.  A  lie  was  of  so  little  consequence  to  him 
that  to  be  told  that  he  was  telling  one  would  no  more 
move  him  than  if  you  were  to  inform  him  that  he  was 
a  poet  or  an  historian. 

This  universal  untruthfulness  meets  you  at  every  turn. 
One  day  I  went  to  call  upon  a  Chinese  merchant  to 
get  a  subscription  for  a  hospital.  I  did  not  know  him 
by  sight,  and  as  I  entered  his  door  I  asked  a  sober, 
quiet-looking  man  if  the  master  was  in.  "  He  has 
just  gone  out,'*  he  promptly  replied,  and  he  pointed 
down  the  street  in  the  direction  in  which  he  was  sup- 
posed to  have  gone.  Something  very  slight  occurred  to 
make  it  flash  upon  me  that  this  was  the  very  man  I 
was  seeking.  Smiling,  I  said  to  him,  "  You  are  the 
gentleman  I  want  to  see,  and  now  you  will  have  to 
give  me  a  double  subscription  for  trying  to  deceive 
me."  A  broad  grin  overspread  his  features,  and  the 
people  standing  by  seemed  highly  amused,  but  they 
never  attempted  to  apologise  for  the  lie  and  no  shade 
of  uneasiness  crossed  the  face  of  this  rich  man,  who 
had  endeavoured  to  get  rid  of  an  unwelcome  visitor 
by  a  device  that  every  Chinese  would  adopt  in  similar 
circumstances. 

Another  day  I  went  on  a  similar  errand  to  the  house 
of  a  wealthy  banker.  I  had  scarcely  entered  before  a 
servant  informed  me  that  the  gentleman  I  wished  to 
see  was  so  ill  that  he  could  see  no  one  but  the  members 
of  his  own  family.  I  doubted  this,  so  I  quietly  took 
a  seat,  and  said  I  would  wait  till  his  master  got  well. 
I  told  him  I  was  in  no  hurry  whatever,  and  that  the  sick 
man  could  take  his  time  about  getting  well  for  I  was 
quite  willing  to  remain  until  he  was  convalescent.  The 
man's  eyes  opened  in  amazement.  He  was  evidently 
tickled  with  the  idea  and  if  he  had  dared  lie  would 
have  laughed,  but  he  kept  his  face  as  solemn  as  a 
sepulchre  and  went  off  to  report  what  I  had  said  to 
his  master.  In  a  few  minutes  he  returned  with  the 
latter's  apologies  and  with  the  request  to  call  another 
day  as  he  was  really  too  ill  to  see  me.     I  replied  that 


A  STREET  SHAVE. 


To  face  p.  319. 


PEEPS  INTO  CHINESE  LIFE  319 

I  was  very  sorry  to  hear  that  he  was  so  unwell,  but  as 
I  had  leisure  just  now  at  my  disposal,  I  would  prefer 
to  remain  until  he  was  well  enough  to  see  me.  After 
several  attempts  to  get  rid  of  me  1  was  finally  admitted 
to  his  private  sitting-room.  I  found  there  was  really 
nothing  the  matter  with  him,  and  when  I  entered  his 
face  was  suffused  with  a  broad  grin  at  the  exquisite 
joke  of  a  man  waiting  for  another  who  was  supposed 
to  be  very  ill  until  he  had  recovered. 

One's  mental  faculties  are  always  on  the  stretch  in 
China,  weighing  and  balancing  evidence  like  a  judge 
or  jury  to  find  out  the  exact  truth  of  statements  that  are 
made  to  you.  A  man,  for  example,  comes  into  your 
room  with  a  mysterious  air.  He  glances  round  about 
to  see  if  there  is  any  one  else.  He  goes  to  the  windows 
and  furtively  looks  through  the  cracks.  He  steps  on 
tiptoe  to  the  door  and  peers  down  both  ways  to  dis- 
cover if  any  one  is  lurking  about.  He  then  returns  in 
a  silent,  cat-like  way,  gives  a  rapid  glance  at 
the  chimney  and  then  points  to  the  ceiling,  then  to  the 
ground,  next  to  you,  and  finally  to  himself,  as  much  as 
to  say,  "  There  are  four  witnesses  to  what  I  am  going 
to  say.  Heaven,  Earth,  you  and  I,  so  truth  is  to  be 
spoken  now."  He  then  leans  forward  with  another 
covert  glance  at  the  door  and  pours  into  your  ear  a  story 
about  another  person  in  whom  you  have  considerable 
faith  that  gives  you  a  shock  as  though  you  had  been 
in  contact  with  a  powerful  galvanic  battery.  After 
a  time  you  recover  yourself,  and  then  the  judicial 
process  of  weighing  evidence  begins.  How  much  of 
this  is  true,  how  much  exaggerated,  and  what  important 
facts  have  been  left  untold,  are  questions  that  travel 
through  your  brain,  as  the  large -mouthed,  high-cheek- 
boned  Celestial  pours  out  his  insinuations  into  your  ear. 
You  discover  by  and  by  that  one  essential  fact  that 
would  have  cleared  the  reputation  of  your  friend  has 
been  withheld.  You  feel  relieved,  you  breathe  once 
more  as  you  get  rid  of  the  grave  suspicion  that  had 
rankled  in  your  mind,  and  you  can  now  meet  the  man 
that  you  doubted  with  an  open  countenance  and  a 
trusting  heart. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  from  the  description  given 
above  of  Brother  John  that  he  is  an  indefinite,  weak- 


320    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

kneed  character.  He  is  anything  but  that.  If  ever  a 
race  had  a  stiff  backbone,  it  is  the  Chinese.  'One  sign 
of  strength  is  the  power  he  undoubtedly  possesses  of 
adapting  himself  to  any  circumstances  in  which  he  may 
be  situated.  Place  him  in  a  northern  climate,  where  the 
sun's  rays  have  lost  their  fire,  and  where  the  snow  falls 
and  the  frost  lays  its  icy  hands  upon  the  forces  of 
Nature,  and  he  will  thrive  as  though  he  had  come  from 
an  ancestry  that  had  always  lived  in  a  frozen  region. 
Transport  him  to  the  torrid  zone,  where  the  sun  is  a 
great  ball  of  molten  flame,  where  the  air  is  as  hot 
as  though  it  had  come  from  a  volcano,  and  he  will 
move  about  with  an  ease  and  comfort  as  though  a 
sultry  climate  was  the  very  thing  that  his  system 
demanded. 

He  is  so  cosmopolitan  in  his  nature  that  it  seems 
to  be  a  matter  of  indifference  what  may  happen  to 
him.  He  will  travel  along  lofty  peaks  where  the  snows 
of  successive  winters  lie  unmelted,  or  he  will  sleep  in 
a  grass  hut  at  the  edge  of  a  swamp,  where  the  Anopheles 
mosquitoes  will  sing  their  songs  and  feast  upon  him. 
He  will  be  carried  sumptuously  in  a  luxurious  sedan- 
chair,  as  though  he  were  the  most  delicate  of  mortals, 
or  he  will  descend  into  the  sultry  tinmines  of  Siam  as 
though  they  were  the  home  in  which  he  was  born,  and 
at  night  he  will  stretch  himself  on  the  hard,  uneven 
ground,  with  a  brick  for  his  pillow,  and  will  rise  next 
morning  as  refreshed  as  though  he  had  slept  on  a 
bed  of  down. 

You  meet  the  Chinese  everywhere  under  the  most 
varied  conditions,  but  he  seems  natural  under  every 
one  of  them.  He  walks  about  in  an  easy,  unsurprised 
way  a  first-class  passenger  in  a  crack  mail  steamer, 
or  he  curls  himself  up  in  a  native  river  boat  like  a  snail, 
in  a  space  where  no  human  being  could  live  an  hour 
but  himself,  and  he  sleeps  a  dreamless  sleep  the  livelong 
night  in  a  fetid  atmosphere  that  would  give  an  Occi- 
dental disorders  from  which  he  might  never  recover. 

vWhatever  the  social  condition  of  the  Chinese  may  be, 
whether  merchant  or  coolie,  artisan  or  day  labourer, 
one  becomes  impressed  with  the  idea  that  behind  those 
harsh  and  inartistic  features  there  is  a  strength  of 
physique  and  a  latent  poAver  of  endurance  that  seem  to 


PEEPS  INTO  CHINESE  LIFE  321 

make  him  independent  of  climate  and  impervious  to 
microbes,  germs,  bacteria,  and  all  the  other  scourges 
that  seem  to  exist  for  the  destruction  of  human  life 
excepting  the   Chinese. 

One  advantage  the  Celestial  has  over  the  Occidental 
is  what  may  be  called  his  absence  of  nerves.  The  rush 
and  race  and  competition  of  the  West  have  never 
yet  touched  the  East.  The  Orient  is  sober  and  measured 
and  never  in  a  hurry.  An  Englishman,  were  all  other 
signs  wanting,  can  easily  be  distinguished  as  he  walks 
along  the  road  by  his  rapid  stride,  the  jerky  movements 
of  his  arms,  and  the  nervous  poise  of  his  head,  all  so 
different  from  the  unemotional  crowd  around  him,  who 
seem  to  consider  that  they  have  an  eternity  before 
them  in  which  to  finish  their  walk,  and  so  there  is  no 
need  for  hurry.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  this  absence 
of  nerves  is  a  very  important  factor  in  enabling  the 
Chinese  to  adapt  himself  so  readily  to  any  circum- 
stances in  which  he  may  be  placed.  Take  the  matter 
of  pain.  He  bears  it  with  the  composure  of  a  saint. 
The  heroic  never  seems  to  come  out  so  grandly  as 
when  he  is  enduring  some  awful  suffering  that  only  a 
martyr  would  be  willing  to  bear.  I  have  seen  a  man 
come  into  a  hospital  with  a  hand  one  mass  of  inflamma- 
tion, swollen  and  angry-looking,  that  must  have  been 
giving  him  torture.  His  face  was  drawn  and  its  yellow 
hue  had  turned  to  a  slightly  livid  colour,  but  there  were 
no  other  signs  that  he  was  in  agony.  The  surgeon 
drove  his  knife  deep  into  the  angry,  inflamed  mass,  but 
only  the  sounds  *'  ai-ya,'*  uttered  with  a  prolonged 
emphasis,  and  the  twisting  up  of  the  muscles  of  one 
side  of  the  face  showed  that  he  was  conscious  of  any 
pain.  An  Occidental  of  the  same  class  would  most 
probably  have  howled  and  perhaps  a  couple  of  assistants 
would  have  had  to  hold  him  whilst  the  doctor  was 
operating. 

It  is  this  same  spirit  that  enables  the  Chinese  to 
bear  suffering  of  any  kind  with  a  patience  and  a 
fortitude  that  is  perfectly  Spartan.  He  will  live  from 
one  year's  end  to  another  on  food  that  seems  utterly 
inadequate  for  human  use.  He  will  slave  at  the  severest 
toil,  with  no  Sunday  to  break  its  monotony  and  no 
change   to  give  the  mind   rest.      He  will   see   sorrow, 

21 


322    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

inevitable,  unappeasable,  resting  over  his  home,  and 
yet  he  will  go  on  with  the  duties  of  life  with  a  sturdy 
tread  and  a  meditative,  mystic  look  upon  his  face  that 
reminds  one  of  those  statues  of  Buddha  that  one  sees 
in  the  great  temples  and  monasteries.  It  is  but  fair 
to  state  here  that  the  women  show  no  less  strength  of 
character  than  the  men.  They  endure  pain  and  sorrow 
with  as  uncomplaining  a  spirit  as  they  do  the  toils  and 
duties  of  life,  and  the  hardships  brought  upon  them 
by  the  misconduct  of  their  husbands  when  they  become 
gamblers  or  opium-smokers  are  borne  with  a  spirit 
of  heroism  that  gives  us  a  high  idea  of  their  fortitude 
and  bravery. 

Another  evidence  of  the  strength  of  the  Chinese  is 
the  calm  and  unruffled  way  in  which  he  will  submit  to 
delay  and  wait  the  time  of  others,  a  thing  that  so 
ruffles  the  temper  of  the  Occidental. 

A  man,  for  example,  calls  upon  you  for  some  special 
purpose.  He  has  something  to  ask  you  that  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  him.  When  he  first  addresses 
you,  he  does  not  show  this  either  in  his  face  or  his 
manner.  You  happen  to  be  occupied  at  the  time  and 
you  request  him  to  be  seated.  He  does  so  with  the 
appearance  that  he  has  infinite  leisure  at  his  command 
and  that  he  has  just  dropped  in  without  having  any 
special  reason  for  doing  so.  You  suddenly  leave  the 
room  for  a  moment,  and  something  engages  your 
attention,  so  that  you  forget  all  about  the  man.  An 
hour  may  elapse  and  when  you  return  he  rises  from  his 
seat  with  a  smile  upon  his  face,  and  with  a  courteous 
bow,  in  either  of  which  there  is  not  the  slightest  sign 
of  temper.  An  Occidental  would  have  fretted  and 
fumed,  and  received  you  with  flaming  eyes  and  a  face 
clouded  with  indignation,  and  very  likely  you  would 
have  parted  from  each  other  in  mutual  disgust  and 
displeasure.  The  absence  of  nerves  and  the  staying 
power  that  had  kept  him  glued  to  his  chair  whilst  you 
had  forgotten  his  very  existence  are  the  forces  that 
enable  him  to  gain  his  purpose  in  the  end.  The 
Englishman  would  go  off  in  a  towering  rage.  He  has 
been  insulted  and  he  eases  his  mind  by  a  forcible  ex- 
pression of  opinion  about  yourself  that  will  render  any 
further  communication  with  you  extremely  improbable. 


PEEPS  INTO   CHINESE  LIFE  323 

The  Celestial  would  think  that  an  absolute  waste  of 
power.  He  has  a  certain  object  to  obtain,  which  he 
can  get  in  no  way  so  easily  or  effectually  as  through 
you.  Why  should  he  allow  passion  or  temper  to  prevent 
this?  He  will  sit  two  hours,  or  four  if  necessary,  with 
a  face  as  serene  and  unclouded  as  though  he  had  already 
attained  the  passionless  state  of  Nirvana.  Indeed,  if 
you  were  to  ask  him  to  call  again  to-morrow  morning, 
as  your  time  was  just  now  limited,  he  would  put  on  a 
childlike  smile,  and  declare  that  it  was  perfectly  con- 
venient for  him,  and  he  would  leave  you  with  a  pro- 
fusion of  stately  bows  to  show  how  completely  satisfied 
he  was   with  the   arrangement. 

To-morrow  at  the  appoihted  hour,  just  as  he  is  enter- 
ing, you  suddenly  recollect  that  you  have  an  important 
engagement.  You  sigh  and  wonder  what  you  are 
going  to  do.  You  state  your  difficulty  to  him  and  he 
at  once  relieves  your  anxiety  by  assuring  you  that  the 
delay  of  another  day  will  not  make  the  least  difference 
to  hixQ,  and  that  he  will  be  happy  to  come  again  at 
any  hour  the  next  day  that  may  be  perfectly  suitable 
for  you.  Such  untiring  patience  and  good-humour 
irresistibly  appeal  to  you,  and  if  it  is  possible  you  will 
put  yourself  out  to  grant  the  request  of  the  man  who 
has  shown  such  tact  in  bringing  it  before  you. 

The  sleuthhound  instinct  that  is  strong  in  the  Chinese 
is  being  constantly  illustrated  in  everyday  life.  There 
is  one  instance  in  the  life  of  the  famous  general  Tso 
Chung- tang  that  will  explain  exactly  what  I  mean.  In 
A.D.  1873  the  great  Mohammedan  rebellion  had  swept 
with  desolating  force  over  Eastern  Turkestan  and  the 
western  boundaries  of  China.  It  was  deemed  essential 
for  the  very  safety  of  the  empire  that  this  should  be 
put  down,  and  that  the  countries  that  had  revolted 
should  be  brought  to  submission.  General  Tso  was 
appointed  to  the  command  of  the  army  that  was 
to  engage  in  this  most  difficult  undertaking.  No 
ordinary  man  would  have  been  competent  to  carry  on 
a  campaign  that  tested  the  ability  of  the  ablest  of  com- 
manders. The  rebels  were  not  only  in  some  of  the 
extreme  provinces  of  the  empire,  but  they  were  also 
in  a  wide  extent  of  territory  that  stretched  hundreds 
of  miles   beyond.     The  country  was   mountainous   or 


324    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

hilly  and  only  partially  cultivated.  There  were  no 
regular  roads  by  which  to  travel.  The  people  were 
fierce  and  warlike  and  the  difficulty  of  getting  regular 
supplies  for  an  invading  army  seemed  absolutely  insur- 
mountable. 

As  long  as  Tso  was  in  touch  with  his  own  country 
he  managed,  after  superhuman  efforts,  to  feed  his 
soldiers  with  the  provisions  forwarded  him  by  the 
Government.  When,  however,  he  launched  into  the 
regions  held  by  the  enemy,  he  found  that  the  feeding 
of  his  large  army  was  a  problem  that  was  likely  to 
test  his  resources  to  the  very  utmost.  He  saw  plainly 
that  he  could  not  have  provisions  brought  to  him.  Long 
strings  of  camels  and  horses  would  come  into  his  camp, 
but  when  the  bags  that  ought  to  have  contained  the 
com  and  rice  for  his  soldiers  were  opened,  they  were 
found  to  be  nearly  empty,  for  the  animals  and  the  men 
that  had  brought  them  had  nearly  consumed  them  for 
their  own  support  on  the  long  journey  they  had 
travelled. 

Any  ordinary  commander  would  have  retired  to  his 
base  to  save  his  army  from  destruction,  but  Tso  deter- 
mined that  no  disgrace  of  this  kind  should  ever  tarnish 
the  splendid  record  that  had  made  his  name  famous. 
He  has  made  up  his  mind  to  carry  out  to  a  successful 
issue  the  mandate  he  had  received  from  the  Emperor. 
He  accordingly  devised  a  plan  that  would  perhaps  never 
have  occurred  to  any  but  a  Chinese  brain,  and  he  at 
once  proceeded  to  put  it  into  execution.  Having  secured 
a  district  suitable  for  his  purpose,  he  made  an  en- 
trenched camp  and  turned  the  whole  of  his  soldiers 
into  farmers.  The  vast  majority  of  them  had  been 
such  before  they  joined  the  ranks,  so  they  had  not 
to  learn  the  business  of  farming.  Fields  were  measured 
out  and  garden  plots  where  all  kinds  of  cereals  and 
vegetables  could  be  grown,  and  the  astonishing  sight 
was  seen  of  a  large  military  force  being  converted 
into  peaceful  husbandmen,  whose  one  aim  seemed  not 
to  be  fighting  but  enticing  from  Nature  the  rich  crops 
that  were  to  cover  the  fields  and  meadows  with  luxuriant 
harvests. 

A  year  went  by  and  the  commissariat  was  plentifully 
supplied  with  the  requisites  for  the  need  of  the  army. 


PEEPS  INTO  CHINESE  LIFE  325 

Never  was  the  staying  power  of  the  Chinese  more 
signally  illustrated  or  more  severely  tested  than  during 
this  year  of  enforced  military  inaction.  Tso  was  eating 
out  his  heart  to  be  at  his  enemies  and  crush  out  the 
rebellion,  but  he  doggedly  held  on  to  his  purpose, 
knowing  that  in  the  end  he  must  conquer. 

One  morning  the  trumpet  sounded  and,  in  an  instant, 
the  farmers  were  once  more  transformed  into  soldiers. 
Regiments  were  re-formed,  and  men  hastened  to  rejoin 
their  colours,  and  ere  long  the  tramp  of  the  soldiers 
was  heard  as  they  advanced  against  the  strongholds  of 
the  enemy.  Again  and  again  the  farmer  experiment 
had  to  be  resorted  to,  but  in  the  end,  after  years  of 
patient,  bulldog  perseverance,  the  rebellion  was  crushed 
and  Tso  with  his  farmer-soldier  veterans  had  the  honour 
of  restoring  the  revolted  provinces  to  the  allegiance  of 
the  empire. 

The  staying  power  of  the  Chinese  is  exhibited  in 
every  phase  of  life  in  which  you  meet  him.  In  one  of 
the  western  provinces  there  are  saltmines  that  it  takes 
forty  years  to  bore.  A  man  begins  work  with  the 
consciousness  that  he  will  never  see  the  end  of  it. 
Never  mind,  his  son  may,  and  so  he  begins  to  drill. 
The  seasons  come  and  go  and  he  still  continues  to 
drill.  The  winter  comes  with  its  frost  and  the  summer 
with  its  sultry  heat,  but  there  is  no  stay.  The  years 
roll  by  and  old  age  creeps  over  him,  and  still  he  is 
driUing,  and  the  last  sounds  that  he  may  hear  in  life 
are  the  voices  of  men  that  are  still  boring  for  the 
brine  that  lies  hidden  deep  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth. 

In  the  character  of  the  Chinese  there  are  many  con- 
flicting'elements,  some  of  them  undoubtedly  a  source  of 
weakness.  The  chief  one,  apart  from  those  that  involve 
any  moral  question,  is  his  tendency  to  be  content  with 
a  slipshod  way  of  executing  any  duty  that  it  comes 
to  him  to  perform.  He  seems  to  have  no  great  ideal 
by  which  he  fashions  his  life.  Just  as  the  word 
**  efficiency  "  represents  in  the  West  the  keynote,  as 
it  were,  of  the  motive  power  that  dominates  men's 
thoughts  there,  so  it  would  be  no  injustice  to  the  Chinese 
to  declare  that  the  word  that  describes  their  mental 
attitude  is  the  one  in  constant  use  among  them,  viz., 
"  anyhow." 


326    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN   CHINA 

The  servants  in  the  house,  the  employees  in  a  firm, 
the  mechanic  in  his  trade,  the  official  in  his  office,  never 
seem  to  be  impressed  with  the  thought  that  they  must  do 
everything  in  the  very  best  style  because  they  should  take 
a  pride  in  doing  the  most  perfect  work  they  are  capable 
of.  No,  "  anyhow  "  exactly  paints  the  attitude  of  mind 
into  which  the  nation  has  fallen.  It  meets  one  every- 
where. A  thing  comes  home  badly  finished,  days  after 
it  has  been  promised  ;  a  servant  neglects  to  do  a  cer- 
tain appointed  work  ;  the  chair-bearers,  instead  of 
being  ready  at  daylight  as  arranged,  will  saunter  in 
two  hours  late  ;  a  certain  payment  is  promised  on  a 
specified  date,  but  no  money  is  forthcoming  ;  an  order 
is  given  to  a  tailor  for  a  dress  that  must  be  ready  for  a 
certain  occasion,  and  he  walks  in  with  it  next  morning. 
No  one  seems  troubled  about  any  failure  such  as  the 
above.  The  ready  phrase  v^hich,  though  it  means 
**  anyhow,"  is  a  very  complicated  one  and  carries  with 
it  '*  don't  be  particular,"  "  let  it  pass  this  time,"  **  never 
mind,"  seems  to  satisfy  the  Chinese  mind  and  to  be  a 
ready  excuse  for  every  neglect.  That  the  Chinese 
character  has  many  elements  of  strength  is  undoubted, 
but  there  will  have  to  be  a  serious  revolution  in  it  before 
it  will  be  able  to  compete  with  the  other  nations  of  the 
world,  and  the  easy-going  way  in  which  the  life  of 
most  of  the  people  is  taken  will  have  to  be  exchanged 
for  a  more  strenuous  one  in  tlie  years  that  are  before 
the  republic. 


CHAPTER    XXV 

THE   NEW   EMPIRE    OF   CHINA 

Within  the  last  twenty  years  there  has  been  a  remark-^ 
able  development  of  thought  that  has  permeated  every 
section  of  the  national  life.  This  has  not  been  the 
result  of  accident,  but  is  the  fruit  of  strenuous  and 
sustained  effort  that  has  been  carried  on  for  a  long 
series  of  years. 

When  the  missionary  first  began  to  endeavour  to 
influence  the  Chinese  crowds  that  flocked  around  him 
as  he  travelled  into  districts  where  the  foreigner  had 
never  been  seen  before,  he  soon  discovered  that  one  of 
the  greatest  forces  to  make  an  impression  upon  them 
was  the  printed  page.  The  scholar  in  China  stands  in 
the  front  rank  of  society,  and  books  are  looked  upon 
with  the  most  profound  veneration  and  respect.  Even 
the  printed  character,  with  its  old-world  mysterious 
look,  holds  a  hig'h  position  in  the  estimation  of  every 
one,  learned  and  unlearned  alike. 

In  every  large  city  one  can  see  men  with  baskets 
slung  over  their  shoulders,  on  which  are  written  largely 
and  ^o  distinctly  that  every  one  can  read  them  at  a 
glance  the  words,  *'  Pity  the  characters.'*  These  men 
are  paid  to  go  round  the  streets  and  pick  up  bits  of 
paper  and  broken  pieces  of  crockery  with  writing*  on 
them.  People  think  it  an  indignity  that  these  characters 
that  have  been  the  source  of  the  empire's  greatness 
should  be  trodden  under  the  feet  of  the  passers-by,  and 
so  they  are  rescued  from  the  streets  and  with  due  cere- 
mony and  honour  burned  in  stoves  that  have  been 
specially  erected  in  some  public  place  for  the  purpose. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  the  great  auxiliary  of  the 
preacher  in  his  itinerations  through  the  country  was 
the  books  that  he  carried  with  him  and  that  he  sold 


328    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

to  his  audiences.  These  remained  with  his  hearers 
after  he  had  proceeded  on  his  journey.  In  early  years 
these  were  entirely  of  a  relig'ious  character,  and  con- 
sisted of  Gospels  and  tracts  dealing  with  popular  cus-^ 
toms  and  superstitions  which  he  knew  would  be  read 
and  studied  by  many  who  had  never  listened  to  his 
preaching. 

Books  were  the  only  medium  by  which  the  scholars 
of  any  particular  district  could  be  reached,  for  one  very 
rarely  met  with  any  of  these  gentry  in  the  popular 
gatherings  that  flocked  round  the  missionary  in  these 
tours.  They  had  too  much  contempt  for  him  to  come 
near  him,  and  besides,  they  were  most  indignant  that 
a  barbarian  should  dare  to  assume  the  role  of  teacher 
and  profess  to  be  able  to  enlighten  a  land  that  was 
fully  competent  to  teach  the  whole  world. 

Still,  it  was  of  prime  importance  that  these  men  should 
be  influenced.  They  were  the  only  aristocracy  of  China, 
as  well  as  its  thinkers.  They  were,  moreover,  the 
teachers  in  the  schools  throughout  the  empire,  and  con- 
sequently held  a  unique  place  of  power  and  influence 
over  the  masses  of  the  people. 

Books  accordingly  were  prepared  that  would  specially 
appeal  to  them.  Some  of  these  dealt  with  religious 
phases  of  thought  that  would  prove  attractive  to  them, 
and  which  brought  up  great  questions  that  had  never 
been  discussed  in  their  own  classical  writings.  In  the 
course  of  time  some  of  the  best  works  of  the  West 
on  a  great  variety  of  subjects,  sucTi  as  history,  science, 
international  law,  &c.,  were  translated  by  the  mission- 
aries and  brought  within  the  reach  of  the  reading  men 
of  China. 

One  very  favourite  and  effective  way  of  doing  this 
was  by  meeting  the  men  at  their  triennial  examiriations 
for  their  degrees.  These  occurred  at  every  prefectural 
city  throughout  the  empire,  and  as  many  as  ten  thousand 
would  attend  these  to  compete  for  their  B.A.  It  was 
a  magnificent  opportunity  for  getting  the  elite  of  a 
prefecture,  gathered  from  five  or  six  counties,  within 
the  narrow  compass  of  a  city  and  of  distributing  books 
that  were  full  of  thoughts  for  a  new  life,  amongst  a 
body  of  men  that  were  so  conservative  and  so  anti- 
foreign  as  these  gentry  always  were. 


■SP- 


THE  NEW  EMPIRE   OF  CHINA  329 

Many  a  rare  scene  of  adventure  took  place  when 
the  missionary  appeared  among^st  them  with  his  books. 
The  favourite  place  where  he  took  his  stand  was  at 
the  main  entrance  to  the  great  Examination  Hall,  where 
they  had  been  closely  confined  whilst  they  were  being 
examined.  As  they  trooped  out  a  look  of  contempt 
seemed  to  sweep  across  their  faces  as  they  caught  sight 
of  the  barbarian,  and  to  cast  a  dark  shadow  over 
them. 

They  were  too  polite  and  refined  to  adopt  the  violent 
methods  of  the  mob,  but  they  had  a  more  insulting  way 
of  showing  their  feelings.  Some  of  them  stood  and 
stared  in  his  face  as  though  he  Were  a  wild  animal 
that  had  only  recently  been  caught,  and  which  they 
examined  with  looks  of  wonder  and  amazement. 
Others,  proud  and  defiant,  marched  by  him  with  their 
heads  high  in  the  air  as  though  he  were  utterly  be- 
neath their  notice.  A  moment  after  there  would  be 
a  rush  of  the  more  hot-blooded,  and  he  would  be  hustled 
up  against  the  side  of  a  wall,  whilst  his  books  lay 
scattered  on  the  ground. 

Then  others  would  come  along  who  resented  such 
coarse  treatment  of  the  stranger,  and  with  smiles  and 
bows  would  receive  his  books  with  promises  to  read 
them  when  they  reached  their  homes,  whilst  others, 
again,  of  a  more  original  and  independent  turn  of  mind, 
would  eagerly  scan  the  titles  of  his  books,  and  with 
many  profuse  thanks  accept  them  from  him. 

At  least  a  thousand  copies  would  thus  be  distributed 
amongst  the  ten  thousand,  and  these  would  be  carried 
off  into  towns  and  villages  and  market-places  in  the 
prefecture,  and  during  the  long  evenings,  when  the 
home  was  buried  in  sleep,  the  men  would  ponder  over 
them,  and  new  pictures  would  be  formed  in  their  minds 
such  as  the  writings  of  the  sages  had  never  been  able  to 
conjure  up.  In  these  thousand  studies  a  new  empire 
began  to  dawn  in  the  thoughts  of  these  students,  and 
a  new  vision  of  the  unseen  world  that  no  writer  of 
romance  had  ever  been  able  to  picture  before  their 
imaginations . 

In  the  course  of  years,  the  Christian  and  secular 
literature  that  the  missionary  provided  for  the  readers 
in   the   nation   slowly    but   surely   began    to   affect   the 


330    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

thinking  even  of  those  who  at  first  were  most  hostile 
to  the  foreigner.  Truth  is  imperious  and  brooks  no 
defiance  of  its  mysterious  sway,  and  men  unconsciously 
found  themselves  controlled  by  thoughts  that  upset  all 
their  ideals  of  life.  In  time  the  bookshops  that  were 
set  up  by  the  missionaries  in  great  centres  in  the  coun- 
try where  the  new  books  could  be  obtained,  found 
their  best  customers  amongst  these  very  literati  who 
had  been  most  violent  in  their  opposition  to  reform. 

One  of  the  most  striking  evidences  of  the  success  with 
which  the  missionaries  had  been  able  to  influence  the 
thoughts  and  convictions  of  what  might  be  termed 
the  ruUng  class  in  China,  namely,  the  scholars,  was  the 
calm  and  placid  way  in  which  they  consented  to  the 
new  system  by  which  degrees  were  to  be  obtained  in 
the  future. 

In  the  past  for  countless  centuries  these  had  been 
obtained  after  profound  study  of  the  classics.  These 
were  practically  the  only  textbooks  that  were  allowed 
by  the  Imperial  Examiner  when  once  in  three  years 
he  came  round  in  almost  royal  state  to  examine  men 
for  their  degrees. 

All  at  once  like  a  thunderbolt  from  the  blue  an 
edict  was  issued  by  the  late  Emperor  Kuang-Su  abolish- 
ing this  system  and  establishing  Government  schools 
with  a  new  curriculum,  which  besides  the  classics  con- 
tained other  subjects  imported  from  the  West  that  the 
scholar  of  the  past  would  have  looked  upon  with  perfect 
horror.  One  of  these  was  a  knowledge  of  English. 
The  men  that  passed  through  this  course  successfully 
and  succeeded  in  satisfying  the  Examiners  got  their 
degrees,  whilst  the  old-world  method  was  abolished. 

In  any  other  country  but  China  there  would  have  been 
the  wildest  excitement,  and,  perhaps,  widespread  revolu- 
tion. At  one  stroke  of  the  vermilion  pencil  vast 
numbers  of  the  scholars  of  the  land  were  disenfran- 
chised. Those  who  had  already  obtained  their  degrees 
were  safe,  but  there  were  millions  of  others  in  whose 
hearts  the  very  dream  of  their  lives  would  die  out  and 
never  again  flash  its  mystery  upon  their  hearts. 

The  years  of  toil  that  these  men  had  spent  in  learning 
the  classics  had  all  been  wasted.  The  subjects  in  which 
they    were    masters,    and    through    which    honour    and 


THE  NEW  EMPIRE   OF  CHINA  331 

wealth  were  to  come  to  them,  were  no  longer  of  any 
use  to  them.  To  the  middle-aged  and  older  men  the 
future  was  entirely  closed,  for  they  could  never  enter 
the  new  schools  and  compete  with  the  younger  blood 
that  would  flock  into  them.  What  a  crushing  blow  to 
the  men  who  constituted  the  intellect  and  brains  of  the 
empire  !  And  yet  the  edict  was  received  without  any 
protest.  No  local  riots  took  place,  and  no  gatherings 
of  the  literati  in  the  Confucian  guilds  throughout  the 
provinces  were  convened  to  denounce  the  action  of  the 
Emperor  in  thus  destroying  by  an  arbitrary  edict  the 
privileges  of  their  Order. 

The  Chinese  is  a  thoughtful  man  and  a  loyal  one. 
For  years  the  work  of  the  missionary  in  moulding  the 
minds  of  the  literati  by  giving  them  the  best  and  most 
advanced  thoughts  of  Western  nations  had  given  them 
a  new  inspiration.  They  had  discovered  that  if  China 
was  ever  to  come  to  the  front  as  a  great  imperial 
force  in  the  East  their  system  of  education  must  be 
radically  reformed,  and  so  with  a  rare  patriotism  which 
shows  the  finer  metal  of  which  these  men  were  composed 
they  consented  to  efface  themselves  that  their  country 
might  be  exalted.  Japa;n,  they  saw,  had  risen  to  be  a 
great  power  through  the  willingness  of  its  j>eople  to 
be  inspired  with  the  genius  of  the  West.  China  must 
never  be  allowed  to  take  a  second  place  to  a  land 
that  for  many  centuries  had  been  her  vassal.  She 
could  never  hope  by  force  of  arms  and  by  bloody 
campaigns  to  rise  to  the  height  that  Japan  had  done, 
but  she  saw  in  the  new  learning  the  potency  of  a 
higher  life  that  would  exalt  the  nation  to  a  supreme 
place  in  the  councils  of  the  world. 

The  Government  schools  are  now  in  full  work  with 
the  new  system^  of  studies,  and  young  China  is  full  of 
the  highest  hopes.  The  awful  drudgery  of  the  past 
was  being  compelled  to  commit  to  tnemory  endless  pages 
of  hieroglyphs,  from  which  there  peer  out  only  the 
visages  of  ancient  worthies,  and  where  no  child's  voice 
is  ever  heard  and  no  woman's  face  is  ever  seen.  The 
romance  of  thought  is  now  filling  their  imaginations, 
and  the  history  and  brave  deeds  of  other  lands  and 
the  marvellous  discoveries  of  science  are  now  flashing 
through  their  brains,  and,  best  of  all,  the  honours  that 


332    MEN  AND  MANNERS   OF  MODERN  CHINA 

could  never  have  come  to  so  many  now  lie  within  the 
grasp  of  every  ambitious  lad. 

In  one  of  these  a  young  Christian  man  of  eighteen 
or  nineteen  years  of  age  was  studying.  Under  the  old 
regime  many  a  long  year  of  painful  drudgery  would 
have  had  to  elapse  before  he  could  have  gained  his 
coveted  degree.  When  the  examinations  took  place 
and  the  lists  were  put  out  his  was  amongst  the  first  of 
the  names  that  had  gained  their  degree.  I  was 
astounded,  for  I  knew  that  his  scholarship  was  not 
of  such  a  profound  character  as  would  entitle  him  to 
this  high  honour.  On  inquiry  I  found  that  it  was  his 
knowledge  of  English  that  had  led  the  Examiner  to  pass 
him.  How  far  China  has  already  travelled  from  the 
ideals  of  the  past  and  how  new  a  vision  has  come  into 
the  eyes  of  its  people  may  be  gathered  from  this  one 
fact. 

Another  sign  of  the  awakening  of  China  is  the  great 
national  revolution  that  is  now  convulsing  the  empire. 
Although  the  new  learning  is  in  a  certain  sense  largely 
responsible  for  this,  the  chief  causes  that  have  led  to 
this  date  farther  back  in  the  life  of  the  nation. 

In  the  year  a.d.  1644  the  Manchus  became  the  rulers 
of  China.  They  had  been  invited  by  one  of  the  last 
emperors  of  the  Ming  dynasty  to  hasten  to  his  assist- 
ance with  all  their  forces  to  aid  in  building  up  the 
fortunes  of  his  falling  House.  They  were  fascinated 
with  the  empire  they  had  come  to  help,  and  they  were 
determined  to  hold  it  for  themselves.  Never  had  such 
a  prize  been  placed  within  their  grasp.  They  had 
often  made  wild  forays  along  the  borders  of  this  delect- 
able land  and  their  eyes  had  glistened  with  delight  as 
they  gazed  upon  the  scene  before  them.  The  smiling 
country,  with  its  fertile  pastures  and  mountain  streams 
and  homes  that  seemed  so  full  of  plenty,  looked  beauti- 
ful to  these  wild  raiders,  and  now  the  whole  empire, 
with  its  broad  plains  and  lofty  mountains  and  magni- 
ficent rivers,  stretched  out  before  their  excited  imagina- 
tions and  was  theirs  if  only  they  had  the  courage  to 
seize  upon  it. 

There  was  no  room  for  hesitation  here.  The  prize 
must  not  be  allowed  to  slip  from  their  grasp.  Tha 
country  was  in  disorder  and  the  forces  that  might  have 


THE  NEW  EMPIRE  OP  CHINA  333 

opposed  them  were  scattered  and  disorganised,  and  so 
the  order  was  given  and  the  throne  was  seized  and 
the  capital  occupied,  whilst  garrisons  were  thrown  into 
the  provincial  capitals  and  the  domination  of  the 
•Manchus  was  complete. 

A  more  unsuitable  race  of  people  could  never  have 
come  into  so  splendid  an  inheritance.  The  conquerors 
belonged  to  a  wild,  barbaric  race,  full  of  the  fighting 
spirit  that  they  had  inherited  from  a  long  line  of 
ancestors.  Their  civilisation  was  of  the  very  lowest 
order  and  had  never  been  elevated  by  the  refinements 
that  learning  ever  brings  in  its  train. 

If  any  of  the  great  men  in  their  tribe  had  ever 
been  conspicuous  for  anything  in  the  past,  it  was  because 
they  were  more  daring  and  more  mad  and  ferocious 
in  their  adventures  of  pillage  and  slaughter  in  their 
savage  incursions  into  the  Flowery  Kingdom.  It  was 
against  such  tribes  as  theirs  that  Shih  Hwang  Ti,  the 
first  Emperor  of  China  (B.C.  221),  had  built  the  Great 
Wall  to  stay  the  inroads  of  the  uncivilised,  murderous 
hordes  that  lay  beyond. 

The  Chinese,  on  the  other  hand,  were  in  many 
respects  a  highly  civilised  race.  They  were  settled! 
in  a  country  that  was  rich  in  natural  products  of  every 
kind.  Great  cities  with  enormous  populations  were  to 
be  found  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  it. 
Splendid  edifices  and  porcelain  towers  and  tall  pagodas 
and  palatial  buildings  for  the  rich  bore  evidence  to 
the  refinement  and  luxuriance  of  its  people. 

It  was  a  land,  too,  of  learning,  and  men  of  the  highest 
culture  abounded  in  it.  It  had  a  history  that  could  be 
traced  back  to  the  days  when  the  great  sages  lived 
and  when  they  taught  and  wrote  those  wonderful 
treatises  that  have  been  so  potent  in  moulding  the 
character  of  the  generations  that  have  slowly  built  up 
the  empire. 

That  its  people  should  submit  to  the  Manchus  was 
utterly  repugnant  to  every  Chinese  within  the  broad 
area  of  the  empire.  They  never  could  endure  the 
thought  that  a  great  nation  like  theirs,  with  its  countless 
milhons  of  inhabitants,  should  haye  been  subdued  by 
a  few  hundred  thousand  savage  horsemen,  who,  taking 
advantage  of  the  distracted  state  of  the  country,  had 


334    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

taken  possession  of  an  empire  that  they  were  totally 
unfit  to  govern.  They  were  barbarians,  and  for  such 
every  Chinese  had  an  undying  hatred  and  contempt. 

During  the  long  years  of  the  past  the  nation  has  never 
submitted  to  the  domination  of  the  Manchus.  They 
have  always  been  looked  upon  as  an  alien  race  and  as 
members  of  a  barbarian  tribe  that  ought  to  be  driven 
back  again  across  the  Great  Wall  into  the  wilds  of  a 
country  that  suited  their  habits  and  character. 

In  consequence  of  this  deep-seated  antipathy  secret 
societies  have  always  been  in  existence  in  every 
province,  whose  distinguishing  watchword  has  been 
*'  The  destruction  of  the  Ching  and  the  restoration  of 
the  Ming."  The  present  Manchu  dynasty  is  called  the 
Ching  or  the  Pure,  whilst  the  one  that  they  overthrew 
is  known  by  its  appellation  of  Ming  or  the  InteUigent. 

Many  efforts  have  at  various  times  been  made  to 
raise  insurrections  to  overthrow  the  Manchus.  The 
most  successful  of  these  was  the  one  called  the  Taiping 
or  Long-haired  rebellion.  Starting  in  the  extreme 
south,  the  revolutionary  wave  swept  over  the  country 
till  the  most  of  the  southern  provinces  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  patriots.  Many  of  the  great  cities  on  the 
Yang-tze,  including  even  Nanking,  the  ancient  capital 
of  China,  were  in  their  hands,  and  the  Manchu  forces 
had  been  routed  and  scattered  by  the  soldiers  of  the 
revolution. 

There  is  no  doubt  whatever  but  that  they  would 
have  been  successful  in  the  end  and  that  before  long  a 
native  dynasty  would  have  been  sitting  on  the  Dragon 
throne  if  the  revolution  had  been  allowed  to  take  its 
own  course,-  but,  unfortunately,  it  was  not. 

The  Taiping  soldiers  had  reached  Shanghai,  which 
they  could  easily  have  captured^  when  the  British 
admiral,  whose  fleet  was  lying  in  the  Woosung  River 
off  the  city,  intimated  to  their  commander  that  he  would 
employ  all  the  forces  at  his  command  to  resist  any 
attack  that  might  be  made  on  it.  Knowing  they  were 
too  weak  to  contend  with  such  a  powerful  foe  as  the 
English,  they  withdrew  from  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
town  and  encamped  their  army  on  the  ground  that  is 
now  used  as  a  racecourse. 

Next  day  the  general  in  commiand  forwarded  a  letter 


THE  NEW  EMPIRE  OF  CHINA  335 

to  the  English  Consul,  most  touching  and  most  pathetic, 
that  ought  to  have  thrilled  the  heart  of  every  English- 
man, when  he  remembered  the  proud  boast  of  his 
country  that  it  was  the  friend  of  the  oppressed  and  that 
the  British  flag  was  the  emblem  of  protection  to  those 
who  fled  to  it  for  refuge. 

The  letter,  freely  translated,  ran  somewhat  like  the 
following  : — 

**  English  Brethren  [the  word  for  brethren  in 
Chinese  meant  the  elder  brothers  and  the  younger 
ones  in  the  same  family], — We  appeal  to  you  not 
to  become  our  enemy.  We  are  fighting  for  the 
freedom  of  our  country,  and  we  know  that  in  time 
we  shall  gain  the  victory  and  drive  our  oppressors 
out  of  the  Middle  Kingdom.  The  Manchus  are  as 
much  your  enemies  as  they  are  ours,  and  they  hate 
you  as  much  as  they  do  us.  They  have  never  loved 
you,  and  they  call  you  barbarians,  and  in  their  hearts 
they  think  of  you  with  scorn  and  contempt.  If  they 
had  the  power  they  would  drive  you  into  the  sea  to- 
morrow, and  they  would  rejoice  in  your  destruction. 
*'  Our  thoughts  are  different,  and  we  call  you 
brethren,  and  when  the  empire  is  ours  we  shall  not 
treat  you  as  strangers,  but  you  shall  have  every  privi- 
lege that  brethren  have  a  right  to  claim.  We  need 
Shanghai,  for  we  have  no  port  where  we  can  purchase 
supplies  and  munitions  of  war  that  will  enable  us  to 
carry  on  our  campaign  against  the  enemies  of  our 
country  with  success. 

*'  We  do  not  ask  you  to  fight  on  our  behalf.     We 

simply  pray  you,  our  English  brethren,  to  stand  aside 

and  remain  neutral,  and  when  we  have  won  we  will 

show  you  how  deep  our  gratitude  is." 

The  only  ,reply  to  this  most  beautiful  appeal  was  the 

firing   of   the   great   guns    of   the   English   men-of-war 

and  the  hurling  of  shot  and  shell  into  the  patriot  forces. 

These  with  a  scream  and  a  roar,  as  though  they  were 

in  agony  for  very  shame  at  the  ignominious  part  that 

England  was  taking  in  aiding  the  oppressor  against  the 

oppressed,  flew  with  many  a  shriek  over  the  settlement, 

and  filled  the  hearts  of  us  all  with  a  nameless  terror 

that  it  was  difficult  to  control. 

Later   on   an   even   stranger  and   more   bewildering! 


336    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN   CHINA 

thing  took  place  when  General  Gordon  appeared  on 
the  scene.  This  great  man  is  a  true  hero  in  the  eyes 
of  every  Englishman.  His  nature  was  a  most  tender 
and  compassionate  one,  and  he  had  the  genius  that  every 
heart  so  full  of  human  sympathy  as  his  has  of  winning 
the  homage  of  every  one  that  knew  him.  The  suffering 
and  the  fallen  were  drawn  to  him  by  a  mysterious  and 
irresistible  attraction.  The  mere  act  of  living  had  no 
attraction  for  him,  for  to  suffer  for  others  was  his 
highest  ideal  of  life.  He  proved  this  by  willingly  dying 
for  a  people  amongst  whom  he  had  cast  his  lot,  in  order 
to  save  them  from  a  cruel  tyranny  that  would  have 
rendered  their  lives  unbearable.  And  yet,  oh  !  mystery 
of  mysteries,  this  great  soul,  this  man  whose  name  shines 
so  brightly  in  the  role  of  English  heroes,  actually  took 
his  stand  on  the  side  of  the  Manchu  conquerors  of  China, 
and  at  the  head  of  his  "  Ever  Victorious  Army  "  was 
the  means  in  many  a  bloody  battle  of  causing  the 
death  of  countless  numbers  of  patriots  who  faced  death 
in  the  hope  of  delivering  their  country  from  a  great 
oppression. 

It  was  through  the  action  of  the  British  admiral, 
who  drove  the  revolutionary  army  from  Shanghai,  and 
of  General  Gordon,  who  crushed  the  revolution,  that 
the  fingers  of  the  clock  of  time  were  stayed  for  fifty 
years  in  China.  Through  them  the  nation's  progress 
was  delayed,  whilst  not  one  grateful  thought  nor  one 
generous  concession  has  ever  been  made  to  England 
in  recognition  of  the  great  delivery  that  she  brought 
to  the  Manchus  in  saving  their  dynasty  from  destruc- 
tion. These  rulers  had  always  been  anti-foreign  and 
anti -Christian,  and  there  was  no  sense  of  gratitude  that 
could  untwine  these  subtle  forces  that  had  entwined 
themselves  around  their  hearts. 

And  so  the  years  went  on,  and  the  nation  became 
more  restive,  and  the  secret  societies  more  active  and 
determined  in  their  plans  for  the  destruction  of  the 
dynasty  that  had  learned  no  wisdom  since  the  over- 
throw of  the  Taipings.  Of  late  years  the  rulers  had 
become  more  assured  of  the  stability  of  their  power, 
for  the  railways  had  come  and  the  telegraphic  system, 
with  its  mysterious  and  mystic  web,  had  spread  into 
every  province.     They  began  to  feel  that  with  these 


THE  NEW  EMPIRE  OF  CHINA  337 

two  forces  at  their  command  they  could  quickly  nip  in 
the  bud  any  insurrectionary  movement  that  might  break 
out  in  any  part  of  the  empire.  But  what  value  are 
railways  and  telegraphs  when  a  whole  nation  rises  in 
arms,  determined  to  have  its  will  obeyed?  In  a  moment 
they  have  turned  to  the  side  of  the  oppressed  and 
become  their  allies  in  their  demand  for  freedom. 

At  length  Kwang-Su  came  to  the  throne  and  but  few 
dreamed  that  he  would  in  reality  be  the  last  of  his 
race  to  hold  the  imperial  sway  over  China.  If  there 
was  one  man  in  the  empire  that  could  have  saved 
the  tottering  dynasty  it  was  he.  He  had  the  most 
exalted  ideas  of  freedom,  and  he  loved  the  Chinese  as 
perhaps  no  other  occupant  of  the  Dragon  throne  had 
ever  done  before  him. 

When  the  allied  forces  of  the  West  were  marching 
on  Peking  and  the  Court  was  hurrying  in  mad  haste 
to  get  out  of  the  capital,  as  the  royal  cavalcade  reached 
the  gate  through  which  they  were  to  emerge  from 
the  city,  Kwang-Su  besought  the  Empress  Dowager 
to  proceed  on  her  flight  and  allow  him  to  remain  behind. 
"  Let  me  stay  and  die  with  my  people,"  he  pleaded, 
and  the  tears  that  ran  down  from  his  eyes  showed  how 
deeply  he  was  moved  with  the  thought  of  the  sufferings 
that  were  about  to  come  on  the  citizens  of  Peking 
when  the  foreign  forces  had  entered  it. 

But  the  imperious  old  lady  sternly  refused  to  grant 
his  request,  and  she  compelled  him  to  fly  with  her.  Had 
she  and  Yuan  Shi  Kai  only  known  how  the  fortunes  of 
the  royal  house  were  linked  with  this  heroic  young 
ruler  they  would  have  treated  him  with  less  contempt, 
for  he  was  the  one  man  in  China  that  day  who  could 
have  delayed  the  destruction  of  a  dynasty  that  had 
become  more  and  more  hateful  to  the  nation.  But  they 
had  not  the  prophetic  eye  to  be  able  to  scan  the  future, 
and  so  Fate  hurried  on  to  accomplish  its  purpose. 

At  last  191 1  dawned  upon  the  empire.  The  gentle - 
hearted  Emperor,  with  his  heart  full  of  plans  for  the 
regeneration  of  China,  was  gone,  and  the  stern  old  dame 
who  had  guided  the  affairs  of  State  with  an  iron  hand 
had  vanished  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  from  the  scene, 
and  no  one  with  a  master  mind  could  be  found  to  take 
her  place.     An  Emperor  five  years  old  with  his  father 

22 


338    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN   CHINA 

as  Regent,  more  facile  in  weeping  than  in  grasping  the 
sword  and  fighting  for  the  throne,  were  the  supreme 
heads  of  the  State.  The  hour  had  come  for  the  great 
deliverance.  The  men  were  ready,  and  their  plans  were 
all  thought  out,  whilst  the  nation  was  absolutely  united 
in  its  passionate  desire  for  freedom. 

And  then  the  revolution  broke  out,  and  before  men 
could  catch  their  breath,  so  astonished  and  amazed  were 
they,  the  telegraph  wires  iflashed  the  news  through  the 
eighteen  provinces  and  to  the  far-off  kingdoms  of  the 
West,  that  Hankow,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  nation,  with 
its  splendid  arsenal  and  its  inexhaustible  stores  of  war 
materials,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  revolutionaries. 

And  then  with  bewildering  rapidity  city  after  city  far 
removed  from  each  other  hauled  down  the  Dragon  flag, 
and  from  every  house  were  flung  the  white  ones  that 
were  hung  out  in  token  of  surrender  to  the  new  regime. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  things  that  has  been 
noticeable  in  this  revolution  is  the  martial  spirit  that 
has  led  every  class  of  the  people  to  hasten  to  enrol  them- 
selves under  the  standards  of  the  patriot  army.  Farm 
lads,  that  were  never  suspected  of  having  a  drop  of 
fighting  blood  in  their  veins,  touched  by  the  news  that 
came  flying  through  the  land  that  the  moment  for 
China's  deliverance  had  come,  dropped  the  plough  and 
hastened  to  where  the  fighting  might  be  expected,  ready 
to  die  if  needs  be  in  the  great  adventure.  Coolies,  too, 
in  their  faded  blue  cotton  clothes,  that  would  make 
one  smile  if  any  one  proposed  to  turn  these  slouchy, 
un  war  like -looking  men  into  soldiers — these,  too,  as  if 
inspired  with  a  new  spirit  of  patriotism,  caught  the  call 
to  arms.  A  new  thought  and  a  new  ambition  had  come 
into  their  hearts  which  sent  the  blood  flying  through 
their  veins  to  a  music  that  for  centuries  had  never  been 
heard  in  China. 

These  men,  when  they  came  to  stand  in  front  of 
the  enemy,  proved  of  what  mettle  they  were  composed. 
They  have  shown  a  fire  and  a  daring  that  have  always 
been  supposed  to  be  the  special  virtues  of  the  warlike 
nations  of  the  West,  but  could  never  be  found  in  the 
hearts  of  the  Chinese  Brave. 

This  opinion  has  been  found  to  be  a  mistaken  one, 
for  it  has  been  discovered  that  the  peasants  and  the 


THE  NEW  EMPIRE   OF  CHINA  339 

farm  hands  that  have  rallied  round  the  leaders  of  the 
revolutionary  movement  have  marched  out  with  a  new 
enthusiasm  in  their  hearts  and  have  defeated  the  highly 
trained  soldiers  of  the  empire.  With  the  exception  of 
a  few  comparatively  insignificant  repulses,  that  have 
proved  of  no  material  benefit  to  the  royal  cause,  the 
revolutionaries  have  everywhere  been  successful.  City 
after  city  and  province  after  province  have  ceased  to 
be  under  the  rule  of  the  Manchus.  Even  Manchuria, 
their  ancestral  home,  from  which  they  marched  to  the 
conquest  of  the  Flowery  Land,  has  declared  its  inde- 
pendence, and  people  of  Mongolia,  who  by  ancient  ties 
were  bound  to  a  loyal  support  of  the  falling  dynasty, 
have  taken  advantage  of  its  collapse  and  declared 
themselves  free  to  rule  their  own  country. 

The  Manchu  rule  has  ended,  and  the  royal  family 
has  formally  abdicated.  The  great  question  arose  : 
What  form  of  government  shall  the  new  regime 
take?  Shall  it  be  monarchical  or  shall  it  be  republican? 
The  great  mass  of  the  people  are  in  favour  of  the 
latter,  and  they  have  so  far  acted  on  their  convictions 
that  they  have  already  elected  Sun  Yat-Sen  to  be  their 
first  President. 

It  has  come  as  a  kind  of  shock  to  the  West  that  a 
people  who  for  so  many  ages  have  been  ruled  by  kings 
and  emperors  and  great  viceroys  who  were  possessed 
of  almost  regal  powers  should  suddenly  come  to  the 
determination  that  they  would  never  be  governed  again 
by  such  haughty  potentates,  but  by  parliaments  elected 
by  themselves. 

This  is  startling  and  unexpected,  but  it  has  not  come 
altogether  as  a  surprise  to  those  who  understand  the 
democratic  character  of  the  Chinese  mind. 

In  order  to  make  this  matter  plain  it  must  be  ex- 
plained that  whilst  the  great  territorial  divisions  of  the 
empire  are  provinces,  Fu  or  prefectures,  and  counties, 
which  contain  within  them  immense  numbers  of  towns 
and  cities,  large  and  small,  the  vast  majority  of  the 
four  hundred  millions  of  Chinese  live  in  villages. 

One  is  amazed  at  the  number  of  these  when  travelling 
through  the  empire.  The  great  plains  are  packed  with 
them.  The  river  banks  are  made  beautifully  pictur- 
esque by  the  splendid  trees  that  fling  out  their  giant 


340    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN   CHINA 

branches  and  overshadow  them.  The  valleys,  too,  are 
relieved  of  their  solitary  grandeur  by  the  overflow  of 
life  that  is  found  in  the  villages  that  thickly  dot  them, 
whilst  even  far  up  on  the  hillsides  hamlets  are  perched 
upon  miniature  plateaux  and  amongst  gigantic  boulders, 
where  people  obtain  a  scanty  living  from  the  mountain 
pines  and  the  thick  brushwood  that  they  cut  down 
and  sell  as  firewood  to  the  dwellers  below  them. 

It  is  from  these  villages  that  the  Chinese  have  got 
the  republican  idea  that  is  dominating  the  great 
majority  of  the  nation  at  the  present  moment. 

In  order  to  prove  this  it  will  be  necessary  to  describe 
the  government  that  is  carried  on  in  each  and  every  one 
of  these  throughout  the  empire. 

The  real  rulers  in  these  are  the  village  elders,  who 
are  elected  by  the  people  and  who  are  called  upon  to 
decide  in  all  cases  of  dispute  that  may  arise  in  it. 
Should  a  family  quarrel  arise  that  threatens  to  be 
serious,  or  some  contention  about  boundaries  or  the 
ownership  of  some  disputed  piece  of  land,  or  indeed 
any  difficulty  that  threatens  the  peace  of  the  community, 
the  elders  give  their  judgment,  which,  in  the  great 
majority  of  cases,  is  loyally  accepted  as  a  settlement 
of  the  dispute.  The  mandarin  never  interferes  in  any 
way  in  the  affairs  of  the  village,  and  the  only  time 
that  there  is  any  intimation  of  his  existence  is  when  the 
tax-gatherer  comes  round  at  certain  appointed  times 
to  collect  the  Government  land  tax. 

There  are  times,  indeed,  when  from  an  English  stand- 
point his  presence  would  seem  to  be  imperatively 
demanded.  Two  villages,  for  example,  are  having  a 
clan  fight,  and  the  men  from  each  come  out  with  guns 
and  blaze  away  at  each  other  and  wound  and  maim 
and  even  kill  each  other.  Both  the  villages  lie,  perhaps, 
right  in  front  of  the  mandarin's  yamen,  but  he  takes 
no  notice  whatever  of  the  conflict  that  daily  takes  place 
between  these  rustic  combatants.  The  sound  of  the 
guns  is  in  his  ears  the  whole  day  long,  but  he  takes  no 
notice  of  this  serious  infraction  of  the  public  peace. 
If  you  happened  to  call  his  attention  to  it,  he  would 
look  at  you  with  placid,  unwinking  eyes,  and  tell  you 
without  a  twinkle  in  them  that  you  were  certainly  mis- 
taken, for  that  he  had  never  heard  a  single  gun  fired. 


THE  NEW  EMPIRE  OF  CHINA  341 

The  village  is  left  entirely  alone  without  any  interfer- 
ence of  any  one  excepting  by  its  own  elders,  who  are  the 
real  rulers  of  it.  In  so  far  it  is  a  republic  and  possesses 
the  most  absolute  power  of  home  rule. 

It  is  only,  and  not  till  then,  when  some  appeal  is  made 
to  the  mandarin  by  any  one  in  it  who  is  dissatisfied  with 
some  decision  of  the  elders  by  which  he  is  aggrieved 
that  the  mandarin  seems  to  become  conscious  that  the 
village  exists  at  all. 

But  even  then  he  does  not  seem  to  be  at  all  anxious 
of  attacking  its  liberties  that  it  has  enjoyed  from  time 
immemorial,  for  before  entering  on  the  case  when  it 
has  come  legally  before  him,  he  first  summons  the  elders 
into  his  presence  and  inquires  what  action  they  have 
taken  in  the  matter.  If  he  finds  they  have  acted  in  a 
wise  and  impartial  manner,  he  refuses  to  upset  their 
decision  and  he  dismisses  the  case.  If,  however,  he 
discovers  that  they  have  been  acting  in  an  unjust  and 
arbitrary  fashion,  he  retries  the  whole  question  and 
gives  his  own  judgment.  In  any  case  he  is  careful 
not  to  infringe  upon  the  privileges  of  governing  them- 
selves that  have  descended  to  them  from  the  ancient 
past.  The  people  have  thus  been  trained  in  the 
republican  idea,  which  has  brought  them  a  large 
amount  of  liberty.  It  is  no  wonder,  then,  that  at 
the  present  crisis,  when  every  one  may  choose  the 
form  of  government  for  the  new  empire,  they  should 
select  that  which  has  given  them  the  largest  amount 
of  liberty  in  the  past.  There  is  no  doubt  but  this 
desire  for  a  republican  form  of  government  was 
greatly  strengthened  by  the  splendid  object-lesson  that 
the  nation  had  in  1909  in  the  Provincial  Parliaments 
that  the  Government  called  into  existence  that  year, 
as  an  experiment  to  see  whether  the  time  had  not 
come  for  the  summoning  of  an  imperial  parliament  for 
the  whole  empire. 

They  proved  to  be  most  successful,  and  every  one, 
both  native  and  foreign,  was  profoundly  amazed  at  the 
wise  and  statesmanlike  manner  in  which  the  members 
of  the  various  parliaments  brought  forward  and  dis- 
cussed great  questions  of  State  policy. 

In  one  of  these  a  future  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
propounded  a  scheme  for  an  appeal  to  the  nation  to  raise 


342    MEN  AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

by  voluntary  contributions  sufficient  money  to  pay  off  all 
the  debt  that  was  due  to  foreign  nations,  and  of  thus 
being  enabled  to  control  the  finances  of  the  empire. 

This  was  enthusiastically  agreed  to,  though  the  sum 
required  would  amount  to  close  upon  two  hundred 
million  sterling. 

All  the  other  parhaments  were  communicated  with, 
who  were  equally  unanimous  in  their  approval  of  this 
magnificent  scheme,  which  there  is  very  little  reason  to 
doubt  but  that  the  entire  nation  would  have  heartily 
carried  out,  for  the  patriotic  spirit  had  of  late  been 
running  like  fire  through  the  hearts  of  every  class  of 
people  throughout  the  country. 

The  one  thing  that  has  held  this  splendid  conception 
in  abeyance  is  the  difficulty  of  administering  the  money 
after  it  has  been  collected.  To  put  it  into  the  hands 
of  the  mandarins  would  be  fatal,  for  most  of  it  would 
never  slip  through  those  fingers  that,  through  the  ex- 
perience of  ages,  have  learned  the  art  of  retaining  their 
grip  on  the  public  monies  that  have  passed  through 
them.  The  idea,  however,  has  not  been  lost,  but  is 
slowly  working  in  the  veins  of  this  great  people,  and 
will  come  to  light  again  in  the  near  future  when  the 
people  have  gained  the  control  of  the  nation. 

It  is  no  wonder  therefore  that  the  people  of  China 
desire  to  have  a  republic.  They  would  no  longer  be 
governed  by  officials  in  a  distant  capital,  every  one  of 
whom  almost  grows  wealthy  on  the  spoils  of  the  nation. 
The  tyranny  and  oppression  and  bribery  that  are  in- 
separably connected  with  the  rule  of  the  mandarin 
would  be  controlled  by  the  State  and  imperial  parlia- 
ments. For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  East, 
the  justice  and  enterprise  of  the  West  would  inspire 
with  a  new  life  and  a  loftier  ambition  this  great  kingdom 
of  China. 

The  new  empire  begins  its  career  with  the  happiest 
omens  for  its  future  success.  Footbinding,  that  greatest 
curse  that  has  ever  afflicted  the  womankind  of  any 
nation  in  the  world,  is  doomed. 

Some  thirty-seven  years  ago  the  campaign  against 
this  awful  crime  was  started  when  the  present  writer 
called  a  meeting  of  the  Christian  women  of  Amoy  to 
discuss  the  question.    An  anti -footbinding  society,  called 


THE   NEW  EMPIRE   OF  CHINA  343 

*'  The  Heavenly  Foot  Society,"  was  that  day  formed. 
With  the  heroism  that  lies  deeply  in  the  hearts  of  the 
women  of  China,  born  no  doubt  out  of  the  agonies  and 
sufferings  and  excruciating  pains  they  have  had  to 
endure  for  long  centuries,  they  nobly  withstood  the 
contempt  and  scorn  that  were  poured  upon  them  for 
refusing  to  bind  their  daughters'  feet  and  for  unbinding 
their  own. 

The  splendid  example  of  these  Christian  women  has 
inspired  the  people  of  far-off  distant  provinces  with 
a  mighty  enthusiasm  to  set  their  wives  and  daughters 
free.  A  public  conscience  has  been  aroused,  and 
amongst  those  who  have  helped  in  the  work  of  regenera- 
tion is  that  noble  Englishwoman  Mrs.  Archibald  Little, 
who  took  up  this  task  in  the  north  twenty  years  after  it 
had  been  started  in  Amoy  in  the  south.  It  requires  no 
special  powers  of  prophecy  to  predict  that  before  many 
years  have  elapsed  not  a  '*  Golden  Lily,"  the  poetic 
title  for  footbinding,  will  be  found  within  the  wide 
limits  of  the  Middle  Kingdom.  The  new  republic  will 
see  to  it  that  the  infamous  custom  shall  not  delay  long 
within  its  rule. 

Another  most  happy  omen  with  which  the  new 
empire  begins  its  reign  is  the  absolute  certainty  that 
within  a  year  or  two  opium  will  disappear  from  the 
Flowery  Kingdom.  The  people  in  the  West  are  often 
perplexed  at  the  rapidity  with  which  a  most  monstrous 
vice  that  overshadowed  the  whole  country  from  the 
Yellow  Sea  on  the  east  to  Tibet  on  the  west,  and  from 
the  Great  Wall  in  the  north  to  the  China  Sea  in  the 
south  should  have  been  controlled  and  stifled.  It  seems 
but  yesterday  that  the  blight  was  everywhere,  and  now 
to-day  men  talk  confidently  of  its  speedy  disappearance. 

A  chapter  out  of  my  own  experience  will  explain  the 
mystery  and  show  how  the  thing  has  been  done.  For 
many  years  I  lived  in  the  County  of  Harmonious  Peace, 
where  the  poppy  was  largely  cultivated. 

At  the  proper  season  of  the  year  and  in  certain 
districts  the  country  looked  most  beautiful  and 
picturesque  with  the  white  and  purple  flowers  of  the 
poppy.  They  presented  a  most  charming  picture,  but 
poverty  and  disaster  and  death  lay  within  that  exquisite 
scene. 


344    MEN  AND  MANNERS   OF  MODERN   CHINA 

Opium-shops  and  opium-smokers  grew  apace,  and  the 
farmers,  having  always  a  supply  in  the  home,  used  it  for 
almost  every  ailment  that  the  flesh  was  heir  to.  Before 
the  sick  knew  where  they  were,  they  were  under  the 
spell  of  the  "  Black  Earth,"  as  it  was  popularly  called, 
and  they  were  immured  in  a  dungeon  from  which  there 
was  no  deliverance. 

At  last  the  hour  came  when  China  rose  in  her  might 
and  determined  to  crush  out  the  life  of  this  its  most 
deadly  foe,  and  so  orders  were  sent  from  Peking  to 
exterminate  the  poppy. 

These  came  to  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  County  of 
Harmonious  Peace.  He  happened  to  be  a  man  of  great 
determination  of  character  and  a  deadly  foe  to  opium, 
as  he  saw  it  was  ruining  his  country.  He  had  not  to 
consider  constitutional  law,  or  juries,  or  popular  journals 
with  conservative  tendencies.  Luckily  for  him  he  had 
not,  for  these  are  sworn  foes  to  heroic  reforms.  The 
methods  by  which  he  was  to  carry  out  tlie  commands 
of  the  Government  were  left  entirely  to  his  own 
discretion.  ' 

One  morning'  he  caused  to  be  issued  a  proclamation 
that  he  posted  all  over  the  county.  It  appeared  in 
all  places  where  crowds  are  wont  to  gather,  in  market 
towns,  in  front  of  famous  idol  temples,  where  a  constant 
stream  of  worshippers  entered,  and  on  the  thorough- 
fares where  men  were  passing  up  and  down  the  livelong 
day.  This  is  the  usual  method  by  which  a  mandarin 
conveys  his  orders  to  the  county. 

When  men  caught  a  sight  of  the  proclamation  their 
black  eyes  gleamed  with  excitement  and  delight,  for 
though  many  of  them  were  growers  of  the  poppy,  the 
new  patriotism  was  burning  within  their  hearts,  and  they 
were  glad  that  their  country  was  going  to  be  saved 
from  disaster. 

The  proclamation  commanded  that  henceforth  no 
man  might  grow  the  poppy  within  the  county,  and 
declared  that  any  one  that  dared  to  do  so,  when  found 
out,  would  be  punished  by  the  confiscation  to  the  State 
of  his  fields,  whilst  the  elders  of  the  village  in  which 
he  lived  would  be  severely  punished  for  allowing  him 
to  disobey  his  orders. 

Not  content  with  this,  the  mandarin  took  a  journey 


THE  NEW  EMPIRE  OF  CHINA  345 

of  fifteen  miles  along  a  villainous  unpaved  road  to 
visit  the  pastor  of  a  native  church  in  my  district.  He 
said  :  *'  I  have  come  to  see  you  to  obtain  your  help  in 
carrying  out  this  plan  that  I  have  adopted  for  the 
extermination  of  the  opium  out  of  my  jurisdiction.  My 
people,"  he  continued,  *'  will  not  obey  me,  and  large 
numbers  of  them  will  try  and  gain  money  by  taking 
bribes  and  by  shielding  the  guilty  by  not  giving  me 
information.  I  know  that  you  Christians  have  always 
been  opposed  to  opium.  You,  indeed,  have  been  the 
true  patriots  of  the  empire,  and  so  I  come  confidently 
to  you  for  the  assistance  that  I  am  not  sure  my  own 
subjects  will  give  me.  I  propose  to  put  a  certain 
area  under  your  supervision,  and  I  wish  you  to  come 
and  inform  me  whenever  you  find  any  farmer  planting 
the  poppy.  Let  me  know  who  he  is,  and  I  shall  have  no 
difficulty  in  finding  out  where  he  is." 

'*  And  have  you  informed  against  any  one?  "  I  asked 
the  pastor,  when  he  told  me  of  the  interesting  interview 
he  had  had  with  the  mandarin. 

"  Oh,  no,"  he  repUed.  "  I  had  a  better  plan  than 
that.  I  could  not  bear  the  thought  of  injuring  any  one, 
and  so,  when  I  discovered  that  some  man  had  planted 
the  poppy,  and  the  plants  were  showing  their  green, 
innocent -looking  heads  above  the  ground,  I  visited  him. 
After  a  few  words  of  friendly  greeting,  I  said  to  him, 
'  You  know  that  the  "  Great  Man  "  [a  common  name 
for  the  mandarin]  has  made  me  promise  to  inform  him 
whenever  I  find  any  one  disobeying  his  decree  about 
the  poppy.  Unless  you,  in  my  presence  here,  pull  up 
your  crop,  I  must  at  once  write  him  and  give  him 
your  name.  You  know  then  the  awful  consequences  that 
will  follow.  Your  land  will  be  taken  from  you,  and  you 
will  be  cast  into  prison,  and  what  will  become  of  your 
wife  and  your  little  ones  then?  Pull  up  every  plant, 
and  you  shall  have  no  further  trouble  in  the  matter.' 
Of  course,"  he  continued,  '*  the  man  was  only  too  de- 
lighted to  bQ  let  off  so  easily,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  poppy-stalks  were  lying  disconsolate  and 
broken-hearted  on  the  bank  overlooking  the  field  in 
which   they   had   been   growing." 

That  year  no  white  and  purple  blossoms  turned  the 
land  into  a  thing  of  beauty,  and  no  poppies  reared  their 


346    MEN   AND  MANNERS  OF  MODERN  CHINA 

heads  defiantly  to  the  sun.  They  had  vanished  out 
of  the  whole  country,  and  not  a  stalk  could  be  seen 
where  once  they  had  flaunted  their  immoral  beauty  in 
the  light  of  high  Heaven. 

The  rights  of  men,  it  is  true,  had  been  disregarded 
by  this  masterful  mandarin,  but  better  that,  according 
to  the  opinion  that  was  everywhere  expressed,  than  that 
women  should  weep,  and  children  starve,  and  the  home 
be  wrecked. 

Now  go  through  the  countless  counties  where  four 
hundred  millions  of  people  live,  and  see  how  the  same 
process  is  going  on  in  all  of  them,  and  behold  I  the 
secret  of  how  the  opium  scourge  has  been  destroyed 
stands  forth  revealed.  It  is  a  secret  no  longer,  but  we 
see  before  us  the  masterful  Celestial  with  strength  of 
will  in  his  soul,  and  a  high  ideal  of  righteousness,  with 
a  new  sense  of  patriotism  throbbing  in  his  heart-,  and 
you  begin  to  realise  the  mighty  force  the  Chinese  are. 

One  element  of  strength  that  comes  with  the  new 
republic  is  the  fact  that  the  man  who  has  engineered  the 
revolution  is  a  Christian.  He  has  the  most  loyal  devo- 
tion of  the  men  that  have  risked  their  lives  with  him. 
His  influence  is  seen  in  the  little  loss  of  human  life 
that  has  been  allowed  by  the  revolutionaries.  There 
never  has  been  in  all  the  history  of  China  such  a  blood- 
less revolution  as  this  last  one.  It  must  be  an  omen  of 
gladness  to  the  whole  nation  that  Jesus  has  at  last 
come  to  take  His  place  in  the  councils  of  the  empire., 
Kang-hi,  a  celebrated  heathen  emperor,  in  his  great 
imperial  dictionary  that  has  been  in  the  hands  of  the 
scholars  of  China  for  at  least  two  centuries  and  a 
half,  defined  Him  as  being  "  the  Saviour  of  the  life  of 
the  world."  This  silent,  unconscious  prophecy  is  at 
length  being  fulfilled  in  the  new  thoughts  about  the 
preciousness  of  life  that  have  come  with  the  dawn 
of  the  new  republic. 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Actors 

... 

... 

...        203 

Ancestor 

worship     ... 

...           91 

V 

i> 

theory  of     ... 

...           92 

V 

1) 

at  grave 

.-      93 

M 

V 

in  ancestral  hall 

...      96 

n 

)1 

in  tablet 

..•      95 

Army 

... 

... 

...      40 

„     officers 

... 

...      48 

Awakening  of  China,  causes  of 

-    327 

B 


Barbarian  ... 

...     207 

Barber 

...     219 

Beggars      ... 

...     290 

„        head  of 

293 

Boat  life     

...     243 

Bride 

249 

Cangue 

155 

Changes,  book  of 

71 

Classics 

62 

„        books  of 

65 

„        influence  of 

74 

847 


348 


INDEX 


Cities 

Criminals,  wandering 
Crops  in  South  China 
Crucifixion ... 


PAGE 
2l6 

299 
269 
161 


D 


Degrees,  literary 

... 

...       52 

V                        JJ 

the  four 

.-.      53 

V                  n 

examination  for 

•••      55 

Doctors 

... 

...      79 

„        famous 

...             ...             ... 

...     180 

„        theories 

... 

...     183 

Doctrine  of  the 

mean 

...      70 

Dogs 

... 

...     232 

Face 

.. 

.     301 

„     saving  the 

.. 

•     305 

Family  Hfe... 

.     257 

Farm  implements 

.     271 

Farmers 

•     263 

Fengshui     . . . 

.     109 

„        theory  of 

.     108 

„        curse 

no 

FiHal  piety . . . 

■    67 

Footbinding 

•  343 

Gordon,  General 

336 

Government,  theory  of 

29 

Great  learning 

69 

Great  Wall                

8 

Guide  to  Polite  Society 

72 

INDEX 
H 


Heaven 

Historian,  popular    .. 

History,  Book  of 


349 


PAGE 

66 

221 
71 


J 

Judges,  despotic  power  of 


165 


Fiand,  theory  about  ... 

17 

„      tax 

19 

„      division  of 

26 

Letter  writer 

225 

Lynch  law  ... 

167 

M 


Manchu  Dynasty 

• -     332 

Military  system 

40 

Mind,  the  Chinese    . 

315 

Money 

...     198 

„      lending 

189 

Opium,  suppression  of 


O 


343 


Parliaments,  Provincial 
Pawnshops 
Punch  and  Judy 
Punishments 


3H 
193 

228 

155 


360  INDEX 

R 

PAQB 

Rapids         ...             ...             ...  ...  ...  245 

Republic,  the  new     ...             ...  ...  ...  339 

Responsibility,  doctrine  of      ...  ...  ...  29 

Rites,  record  of         ...             ...  ...  ...  72 

River,  Yellow            ...             ...  ...  ...  237 

„     Yangtze          ...            ...  ...  ...  237 

Roads          ...             ...            ..*  ...  ...  278 

„      small               ...            ...  ...  ...  279 

„      great               ...             ...  ...  ...  280 

S 

Sam  Shu     ...             ...             ...  ...  ...  97 

School,  system  of      ...             ...  ...  ...  77 

„       buildings       ...             ...  ...  ..  79 

„       books            ...             ...  ...  ...  82 

„       Government               ...  ...  ...  89 

Scholars      ...            ...            ...  ...  ...  53 

„        strolling      ...             ...  ...  ...  88 

Shouters  or  runners  ...             ...  ...  ...  229 

Sincerity,  the  doctrine  of        ...  ...  ...  69 

Soldier,  the                ...             ...  ...  ...  41 

„        „    character  of         ...  ...  ...  42 

„        „    bravery...            ...  ...  ...  51 

»        M    pay        46 

Son  of  a  king,  the  Ideal  man  ...  ...  ...  68 

Sorcerer      ...            ...            ...  ...  ...  118 

„        character  of              ...  ...  ...  126 

„        how  made  ...            ...  ...  ...  119 

Spirits  of  the  dead    ...            ...  ...  ...  108 


20 
22 
20 


Tax  collectors 

i 

» 

M 

tricks  of 

i» 

T» 

land  ... 

INDEX  351 

PAGB 

Temples      ...            ...  ...  ...  ...  130 

„        mountain     ...  ...  ...  ...  145 

Territorial  division   ...  ...  ...  ...  157 

Transportation  for  crime  ...  ...  ...  157 


V 

Villages,  home  rule  of  ...  ...  ...     339 


Yamen        ...  ...  ...         -   ...  ...     130 


Ube  (Bresbam  press, 

UNWIN  BROTHERS,  LIMITED, 
WOKING  AND  LONDON. 


14  DAY  USE 

RE'I  RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED    I 


Th 


LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWALS  ONLY-— TEL.  NO.  642^405 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


— F. 

-W. 


"^^ 


0( 

ml 


-^ 


i^- 


^ 


^^tfg^^^- 


!JUl    2  1974  {^ 


AUG  12  1975  6 


REC.CW-^' 


V32. 


ot 


REC'DID  F!B1  S  72 -6  PM  5  6 


4 


\yti 


^ 


^^ 


fm  SEP  0  4 1987 


LD  21A-40m-2,'69 
(J6057sl0)476 — A-32 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


s^ 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 

i 


BDD30n7flT 


.»' 


■;  •   '\.    '^ 


